FJIEA 


\T    LOS  ANGELES 


Eld.  H.  S.  Sturdevant 


LIFE   AND   ADVENTURES 


AN    ORPHAN    BOY 


From  the  Cradle  to  the  Ministry 


ILLUSTRATED 
AND  CONTAINING  AMUSING   SCENES  AND  ADVEN- 
TURES IN   MISSION  WORK  ON  LAND  AND  SEA 


ELD.    HERVEY    S.    STURDEVANT 


CORNELIUS,   OREGON 
PUBLISHED    BY  THE  AUTHOR 

.■111  Ri[ghti  RficrvcJ 


J5A 


tr^ 


f5/l3 


PREFACE. 


The  history  of  the  Advent  message  is  insepara- 
bly  bound   up  with   the   history  of  its  preachers, 
In  choosing  men  and  women  for  the  work  of  preach- 
ing the  good  news  of  the  soon-coming  of  his  Son, 
God  has  not   departed   from   his  usual  plan  of  not 
selecting  many  of  the  •'  wise"  and  learned  in  the 
jj^  spheres  of  ordinary  human   knowledge,  but  he  has 
?'  called  the  majority  of  his  heralds  from  the  plough, 
^"^the   store,    the    blacksmith    shop,  the    carpenter's 
ta^  bench,  and  other  humble  vocations. 
g2      The  writer  of  the   following  pages   is  happy  to 
ITireckon    himself  among  the    number  of  those  thus 
^chosen    to    execute  a  great    purpose    of  Almighty 
^God,  one  of  the   grandest  commissions  ever  com- 
**mitted  to  frail  mortals  to  execute,  and  in  this  little 
booklet  he  has  endeavored  to  glorify  God  by  show- 
ing how,  through  varied  trials,  trust,  and  triumph, 
the  Lord  has   led  him   until  he  had  him  fully  pre- 
pared to  go  forth  with  this  great  message. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  present  at  a  camp- 
meeting  in  Cornelius,  Ore.,  in  1898,  when  Bro. 
Sturdevant  was  set  apart  by  his  brethren  to  preach 
the  everlasting  gospel,  and  I  have  since  listened 
more  than  once  with  much   interest  to  his   pointed 


28G220 


IV  PREFACE 

expositions  of  the  Word  of  God,  so  dear  to  the 
Advent  people,  interspersed  with  incidents  from 
his  own  varied  experiences  ;  it  was  these  incidents, 
some  of  them  quite  thrilhng,  others  laughable  and 
others  remarkable,  many  of  them  bearing  on  his 
great  life  work,  which  our  brother  has  now  por- 
trayed in  his  own  style  and  presented  to  the  church 
and  the  world  in  the  form  of  a  book  to  cheer  the 
despondent,  comfort  the  sorrowing,  and  make  glad 
the  hopeful. 

This  is  not  a  money-making  scheme,  as  all  profits 
derived  from  the  sale  of  the  book  go  to  the  mission 
cause.  The  touches  of  humor  found  throughout 
the  little  volume  render  it  very  readable,  and  the 
accompanying  essay  will  remove  many  false  impres- 
sions as  to  the  people  with  whom  our  brother  is 
identified.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  count  this  hon- 
ored servant  of  God,  who  has  written  so  interesting 
a  book,  among  my  staunch  friends,  and  hope  and 
pray  that  his  life  of  usefulness  may  be  prolonged 
and  enlarged  should  the  Lord  tarry. 

W.  R.  Young. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Home  of  My  Childhood 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Reverse 13 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Change  in  Fortune 19 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Mother's  Vacation 26 

CHAPTER  V. 
Among  the  Millerites 34 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Broken  Promise  and  Reminder       ...     40 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Our  New  Home  and  Sunday-school        ...     46 


VI  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Homeward   Bound 53 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Sunday-school  Again 63 

CHAPTER  X. 
Breadwinning 72 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Through  the  Wilderness 77 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  End  of  the  Exile 81 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Our  Vacation 86 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Evangelistic  Work 94 

A  Poem 99 

What  is  Orthodox  Adventism 103 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FACING 
PAGE 


Portrait  of  the  Author .      Title 

The  Old  Home  in  Pennsylvania        .      .      .      .  lo 

The  Schoolhouse  Where  I  was  Educated         .  19 

Shrubbery  Around  Our  Cabin  in  Oreo;on     .      .  68 

Our  New  House  at  Mt    \'incent 70 

The  Mt.  Vincent  A.  C.  Church 74 

The  A.  C.  Church  of  Hillsboro,  Ore.,  Dedi- 
cated Dec.  4.  1910 98 


CHAPTER   I. 

HOiME  OF  MY  CHILDHOOD. 

♦#F  WAS  born  in  Braintrem,  Wyoming 
n  County,  Penn.,  August  19,  1848. 
My  father  and  mother  were  Baptists  of  the 
strictest  sect.  We  were  not  allowed  to 
play  out-of-doors  on  Sunday,  and  all  un- 
necessary noise  was  prohibited,  to  such  ar> 
extent  that  Sunday  was  a  dull  day  to  me 
and  I  was  glad  when  the  fast  was  over. 
Here  I  spent  the  few  years  of  my  child- 
hood. The  large  locust  trees,  the  old 
well  sweep,  blacksmith  shop,  peach  or- 
chard, and  sweet  apple  tree,  are  among- 
my  first  recollections. 

"Everybody  worked  at  our  house."  The 
girls  knit,  spun,  rode  the  horse  to  plough 
corn,  while  the  boys  cut  wood,  ploughed 
the  fields,  picked  stone  off  the  land,  and 
made  themselves  generally  useful. 


10  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

Father  worked  hard,  but  was  rather  ty- 
rannical. He  had  read  in  the  Bible  that 
if  you  spared  the  rod  you  spoiled  the 
child,  and  he  did  not  intend  to  spoil  any 
of  his  children  in  that  way. 

Mother,  God  bless  her,  had  the  care  of 
eleven  children  ;  she  spun  and  wove  the 
cloth  for  our  clothes,  cut  the  garments  and 
made  them  with  a  needle  and  linen  thread, 
that  she  spun  herself;  she  also  did  the 
cooking,  which  was  a  kind  of  wholesale 
affair.  I  well  remember  the  old  Dutch  oven 
where  from  fifteen  to  thirty  large  loaves 
of  bread  were  baked  at  one  time,  and  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  pumpkin  pies  were 
served  regularly.  One  day  when  mother 
had  set  some  pies  at  the  crack  of  the 
back  door  to  cool  for  dinner,  I  came- run- 
ning in  and  stepped  my  bare  foot  in  a  pie, 
and  I  got  that  piece  for  mine.  Our  prin- 
cipal living  in  summer  was  rye  bread  and 
potatoes,  and  in  winter  buckwheat  cakes 
and  pork,  with  now  and  then  mush  and 
milk  to  break  the  monotony. 

My  first  recollection  of  work  was  help- 
ing father  in  the   blacksmiHi  shop,  when  I 


The  Home  of  Mv  Childhood 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  II 

had  to  stand  on  an  old-fashioned  beehive 
to  reach  the  bellows  pole,  and  I  remember 
well  of  hoeing  corn  in  the  field  when  I  was 
six  years  old. 

Our  beds  were  not  wire  springs  and 
wool  mattresses  ;  they  were  the  primitive 
kind,  with  a  5x5  rail,  laced  up  with  a  half- 
inch  homemade  rope  and  a  linsey-woolsey 
tick  filled  with  straw.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  people  were  early  risers  in  those  days. 
When  we  compare  the  sleeping  place  with 
the  warm  glow  of  the  big  fireplace,  it  is  no 
wonder  they  were  all  ready  to  get  up  in 
the  early  morning.  Breakfast  was  over 
and  the  chores  done  long  before  daylight, 
and  things  moved  right  along. 

I  remember  one  winter's  night,  when  I 
was  but  four  years  old,  my  sister  and  her 
husband    came   to   make   an   evening  call. 

o 

They  carried  their  baby  in  a  bushel  basket- 
between  them,  and  came  across  the  fields 
because  it  was  much  nearer.  The  snow 
was  deep  and  the  night  very  cold  ;  they 
entered  the  long  kitchen,  set  the  basket 
down  and  went  to  the  fireplace  to  get 
warm,  and  were  having  a  good  chat  when 


12  ELD.    H.    S.    STURDE\\A.NT 

mother  asked  where  they  had  left  their 
baby.  "  Why,"  said  they,  "  he  is  in  the 
basket ;  "  and  then  there  was  a  general 
rush  to  see  if  he  was  dead  or  alive.  They 
found  him  sleeping  nice  and  warm. 

Our  rough  food  and  scant  clothing  in 
that  rigorous  climate  had,  at  least,  one 
good  effect:  it  produced  hardy  sons  and 
daughters  that  were  not  afraid  of  honest 
toil  and  could  battle  with  and  overcome 
great  difificulties  in  after  life.  We  have  all 
lived  to  a  good  old  age  and  filled  some 
stations  of  honor,  and  mother's  prayer, 
that  her  children  might  become  Christians 
and  be  honest,  useful  citizens,  was  an- 
swered long  ago.  Some  are  sleeping  in 
the  dust  awaiting  the  sound  of  the  last 
trumpet,  when  the  sea  and  land  shall 
yield  up  their  dead. 

"Some  sleep  where  Southern  vines  are  dressed, 
Some  in  the  mountains  of  the  West. 
It  matters  not,  the  Saviour  said, 
For  sea  and  land  shall  yield  their  dead." 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  REVERSE. 

mo  doubt  the  reader  will  expect  more 
sunshine  and  less  shadow  in  this 
chapter,  but  we  shall  leave  him  to  draw  his 
own  conclusions  as  we  proceed. 

The  winter  after  I  was  five  years  old  our 
folks  went  visiting  and  left  me  and  my 
younger  brother  at  home  with  a  sister  that 
was  eleven  years  old.  The  neighbors 
lived  two  miles  away.  The  snow  was  deep 
and  the  wind  was  high.  Sister  went  out- 
doors for  something  and  discovered  that 
our  house  was  on  fire.  The  house  was 
two  and  a  half  stories  high,  and  the  fire 
was  in  the  shingles  around  the  stovepipe. 
There  was  no  way  for  us  to  get  to  the  fire. 
What  could  be  done?  Before  we  could 
get  help  from  the  neighbors  the  house 
would    be    consumed.     We    ran   outdoors 


14  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

and  brother  and  I  helped  make  snowballs, 
and  sister  threw  them  for  a  full  half  hour 
until  the  fire  was  extinguished.  That  was 
the  first  fire  company  I  ever  saw,  but  it 
did  the  work  and  saved  the  house,  while 
other  houses  with  no  more  start  have 
burned  down  with  men  and  hydrants  all 
around. 

More  than  forty  years  afterward  this 
same  sister  climbed  out  of  an  immigrant 
wagon  in  the  middle  of  a  Western  river, 
and  putting  her  shoulder  to  the  wheel 
helped  the  oxen  roll  the  wagon  out  of  the 
quicksand.  As  she  went  up  the  bank  of 
the  river  in  her  wet  clothes,  she  swung 
her  sunbonnet  and  shouted  another  victory 
won.  She  now  sleeps  in  Jesus  awaiting  the 
resurrection  at  the  last  day.  Her  hope  is 
chisled  on  her  tombstone:  "I  shall  be 
satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness  " 
(Psa.  17:    15). 

But  to  go  back  to  my  story  again.  The 
day  I  was  seven  years  old  my  father  died 
after  a  long  and  distressing  illness.  This 
was  at  the  time  of  a  severe  financial  panic. 
The  duty  had  been   removed  from  foreign 


ELI).    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  1 5 

iron,  and  ships  that  formerly  took  in  rocks 
and  sand  to  keep  them  right  side  up  while 
crossing  the  ocean,  now  loaded  with  iron 
at  fifty  cents  per  ton,  and  brought  it  over 
here  as  ballast.  The  result  was,  our  man- 
ufacturies  were  forced  to  shut  down,  and 
limes  were  desperately  hard.  I  think  we 
see  dollars  more  often  nowadays  than  we 
saw  one-cent  pieces  then.  We  were  in 
debt  and  the  situation  looked  blue.  Al- 
most everything  we  used  had  to  be  pro- 
duced at  home  as  there  was  no  money  to 
buy  with. 

The  first  pair  of  store  shoes  I  ever  had 
was  bought  for  me  to  wear  at  father's 
funeral,  and  as  they  were  too  small  for  me 
I  had  to  go  barefooted.  The  services 
were  held  in  a  small  schoolhouse.  My 
brother  and  I  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  ros- 
trum to  make  room  for  older  people. 
This  was  the  first  funeral  I  ever  attended 
and  is  the  most  vivid  in  my  memory.  El- 
der Dimock,  a  very  aged  Baptist  minister, 
read  the  6oth  Psalm,  and  preached  the 
sermon,  and  then  we  went  to  the  ceme- 
tery.    Father  was  in  a  plain  black  walnut 


1 6  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

coffin  with  no  handles  or  trimmings.  The 
grave  was  narrow  and  deep.  They  had 
no  rough  box,  but  lowered  the  naked 
coffin  down.  A  Baptist  minister  brought 
a  bundle  of  rye  straw  and  put  in  the  grave 
so  the  stones  and  clods  would  not  make 
so  much  noise.  We  stood  there  while 
they  filled  the  grave. 

Mother's  heart  was  broken.  What  could 
she  do?  She  took  her  little  flock  of  chil- 
dren and  wended  her  way  home,  trusting 
only  in  him  who  said,  "I  will  never  leave 
thee  nor  forsake  thee." 

In  a  few  days  kind  friends  came  and  of- 
fered consolation  by  telling  mother  she 
would  have  to  bind  the  children  out,  and 
went  so  far  as  to  select  a  place  for  me. 
This  old  indenture  law  was  a  relic  of  the 
*'  Dark  Ages,"  brought  over  in  the  May- 
flower, and  ought  to  have  been  relegated 
with  the  public  hanging  and  the  whipping 
post.  It  was  simply  another  name  for 
human  slavery.  It  was  practically  deed- 
ing away  all  rights  to  one's  children,  and 
that  was  more  than  a  loving  mother  was 
willing  to  do.     She  did  not  accept  their 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  1 7 

consolation,  but  resolved  to  keep  the  chil- 
dren at  home. 

Mother  was  a  weaver  of  no  ordinary 
type.  She  had  learned  the  trade  when  a 
girl,  and  followed  it  for  years.  She  could 
take  the  wool  from  the  sheep's  back,  or 
the  flax  in  the  field,  and  follow  it  throupjh 
the  whole  process  to  the  finished  fabric. 
Diamond  kerseys  and  fancy  coverlets  were 
as  simple  to  her  as  rag  carpet  is  to  the  or- 
dinary weaver,  and  so  she  soon  found  her 
labor  in  demand.  She  rented  the  farm 
and  received  some  help  that  way,  but 
many  a  night  I  awoke  in  the  wee  small 
hours  and  heard  the  bang,  bang,  of  the 
old  loom,  as  mother  was  pounding  out  a 
living  for  her  children.  This  was  long  be- 
fore the  kerosene  lamp  or  electric  lights 
had  ever  been  dreamed  of.  The  tallow 
candle  was  all  the  go,  and  was  an  improve- 
ment on  the  glowworm  or  lightning  bug. 
Sometimes  we  did  not  have  even  the  can- 
dles, and  then  had  to  resort  to  a  more 
ancient  invention  by  putting  some  grease 
in  a  saucer  and  a  cotton  rag  for  a  wick.  I 
will  not  mention  the  name  of  this  kind  of 


1 8  ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT 

a  light,  but  I  think  it  dates  back  to  the 
days  of  Gideon. 

Some  of  my  sisters  taught  school  at  ten 
dollars  per  month,  and  some  of  the  older 
boys  worked  out  for  eight  dollars  per 
month.  Sixteen  hours  were  considered  a 
fair  day's  work  in  those  days.  I  have 
worked  in  the  harvest  field  for  three  cents 
a  day,  not  because  I  did  not  earn  more, 
but  mother  said  we  must  let  the  other  fel- 
low set  the  price,  and  this  is  a  specimen  of 
his  generosity.  After  I  could  swing  the 
grain  cradle  with  the  men  I  worked  twenty- 
one  days  for  a  pair  of  boots  that  cost  two 
dollars  and  twenty-five  cents. 

My  schooling  was  very  limited,  amount- 
ing to  three  months  a  year,  until  I  was  old 
enough  to  run  the  farm. 


Sclioolhouse  wliere  I  was  Educatt 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  CHANGE  IN  FORTUNE. 

♦tff"  DID  not  like  to  go  to  school,  and 
II  would  sometimes  play  sick  and 
come  home ;  but  I  could  not  deceive 
mother,  and  when  she  saw  that  I  was 
playing  sick,  she  would  mix  a  dose  -of 
epsom  salts  and  tell  me  I  must  take  that 
and  go  to  bed.  Of  course  I  preferred 
school  to  that,  and  told  her  I  felt  better 
and  would  go  back  to  school. 

When  I  was  ten  years  old  I  was  installed 
man  of  the  house,  and  sent  on  business  far 
and  near.  I  had  to  go  to  mill  once  a 
month  to  get  a  grist  ground,  and  it  usually 
took' all  day  and  sometimes  late  in  the 
night,  if  I  had  to  wait  for  my  grist,  as  each 
one  had  to  wait  his  turn. 

The  old  miller  would  tell  me  stories  to 
pass  the  time  away.     He  said  he  had  once 


20  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

been  a  boy,  and  was  frequently  sent  from 
VVilkesbarre  to  Philadelphia  after  goods 
for  the  merchants.  On  one  of  these  trips 
he  had  a  butt  of  molasses  in  his  load. 
When  coming  up  the  Lehigh  Mountain 
this  huge  cask  worked  back  until  it  was 
almost  out  of  the  wagon.  He  tried  to  get 
it  further  ahead,  but  could  not.  The  road 
was  dug  along  the  side  of  the  mountain, 
and  there  was  an  awful  precipice  below 
the  road.  As  he  neared  the  top  of  the 
mountain  the  cask  slid  out  and  rolled  off 
the  side,  where  it  dropped  two  hundred 
feet  before  it  touched  bottom.  He  stopped 
the  horses  and  looked  over  the  clifT  and 
saw  two  acres  nicely  spread  with  molasses. 
These  stories  kept  me  from  getting  lone- 
some until  I  could  get  my  grist  and  start 
for  home. 

At  one  time  I  had  a  load  of  land  plaster, 
and  it  looked  like  rain.  One  oi  the  horses 
got  sick  and  I  tied  the  other'one  back  and 
made  it  pull  the  load,  consequently  we 
made  slow  progress.  About  midnight, 
going  up  a  steep  hill,  the  wagon  slewed 
around    and    got    fast    in    the    roots  of    a 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  2  1 

Stump.  I  could  not  get  it  out.  The  sick 
horse  was  now  unable  to  go,  and  I  thought 
if  it  rained  my  load  would  be  ruined.  I 
sat  in  the  wagon  and  viewed  the  black, 
threatening  clouds,  then  got  on  my  knees 
and  prayed  to  mother  s  God  that  he  would 
stay  the  storm  and  help  the  poor  orphan 
boy  out  of  his  dilemma.  This  was  the 
first  time  I  ever  prayed.  The  Lord  heard 
the  prayer,  and  next  morning  a  kind 
neighbor  came  with  his  big  team  and  took 
my  load  home  free  of  charge. 

I  now  worked  a  part  of  the  farm.  I 
could  plough  and  harrow.  We  hired 
some  help  in  harvest,  and  things  began  to 
take  on  new  life.  Our  stock,  instead  of 
humping  up  behind  a  straw  stack,  had 
comfortable  quarters.  At  twelve  years  old 
we  cut  the  hay  and  filled  the  barn,  and 
peace  and  plenty  began  to  dawn.  We  all 
dressed  more  comfortably,  and  mother  did 
not  have  to  work  so  hard.  It  really 
seemed  as  though  the  spell  had  broken, 
the  tide  had  turned,  and  that  some  of 
the  good  things  were  coming  our  way. 
The  false  creditors,  with  bills  that  mother 


22  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

knew  had  been  paid,  had  ceased  to  come, 
and  we  were  out  of  the  clutches  of  the 
Shylocks. 

The  Civil  War  was  now  on  in  good 
earnest.  Four  of  niy  brothers  enlisted, 
and  one,  a  boy  of  seventeen,  was  shot 
within  two  rods  of  a  rebel  breastwork,  on 
that  memorable  twelfth  of  May,  1864. 

IN   MEMORIAM. 

"  On  Spottsylvania^s  bloody  field, 
The  awful  charge  was  made  ; 
And  comrades  dug  a  shallow  grave, 
And  in  it  he  was  laid. 

"  No  battlecry  or  cannon's  roar 
Disturbs  his  last  repose  ; 
But  there  he  lies  and  sweetly  sleeps. 
Beyond  the  dread  of  foes. 

"  On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground 
His  silent  tent  is  spread. 
And  glory  guards  with  solemn  round 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead." 

After  the  close  of  the  war  I  worked  the 
farm  for  some  time,  then  apprenticed  my- 
self to  learn  the  blacksmith's  trade.  I 
worked   one  whole  year  for  six   dollars  a 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  25 

month,  and  the  first  real  dress  suit  I  ever 
had  I  bought  at  this  time  while  working 
for  twenty-five  cents  per  day.  I  found 
that  it  was  not  what  a  man  earned,  but 
what  he  saved  that  counted.  I  also  bought 
my  first  Bible  during  this  year.  I  was 
nineteen  years  old,  when  my  employer 
sold  out  and  I  was  forced  to  seek  other 
employment. 

I  boated  for  two  years  on  the  North 
Branch  Canal,  from  the  city  of  VVilkes- 
barre  to  Mehoopany,  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
to  Elmira,  N.  Y.  Boating  had  especial 
charms  for  me,  as  I  was  naturally  of  a 
roving  disposition,  and  wanted  to  see 
something  new.  In  August,  1868,  while 
our  boat  lay  at  Solomon's  Rocks,  below 
Wilkesbarre,  I  was  taken  with  typhoid 
fever.  It  was  a  week  before  I  could  get 
home  or  have  any  care.  I  finally  reached 
home  and  lay  at  the  point  of  death  for  a 
long  time.  Many  came  to  see  me  sup- 
posing they  would  never  see  me  again 
alive.  At  the  most  critical  time  a  Chris- 
tian lady  watcher  asked  me  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian.     I  could   only  whisper,  but  told   her 


24  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

if  I  got  well  I  would.  She  told  me  I 
would  get  well. 

Said  I,  "  How  do  you  know?" 

She  replied,  •'  I  have  asked  the  Lord  to 
spare  your  life,  and  I  have  the  assurance 
that  he  will." 

From  that  time  I  began  to  amend,  but 
was  a  living  skeleton  for  weeks.  As  soon 
as  I  was  well  I  forgot  my  promise,  and 
became  more  worldly  than  ever.  I  took 
to  using  tobacco  to  excess,  and  I  had  also 
used  liquor,  and  did  many  other  things 
that  were  wrong.  In  April  of  this  year  I 
joined  the  Good  Templars,  and  that  put 
an  end  to  my  drinking.  I  went  hoine  and 
told  mother,  supposing  she  would  praise 
me  for  the  noble  stand  I  had  taken,  but 
she  never  spoke  a  word.  I  said,  "  If  I 
must  fight  the  battle  lone-handed,  Jiere 
goes"  and  for  over  forty  years  I  have  kept 
my  pledge,  and  nothing  does  me  more 
good  than  to  tell  a  man  that  I  don't  drink. 
The  right  way  to  quit  any  bad  thing  is 
just  to  quit,  and  never  have  anything  more 
to  do  with  it. 

In  1872  I  signed  a  pledge  with  twenty- 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  25 

two  young  men  never  to  touch  intoxicat- 
ing drink  as  a  beverage,  or  to  use  tobacco 
in  any  form,  and  this  pledge  has  been 
kept  sacred  by  all  but  two.  One  of  these 
died  an  infidel,  and  the  other  has  seen  his 
share  of  trouble. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MOTHER'S  VACATION. 

♦tfFN  the  summer  of  1869  I  helped  build 
II  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad.  The 
road  was  laid  on  the  tovvpath  of  the  old 
canal.  The  grade  had  to  be  changed  in 
many  places,  and  much  of  this  work  was 
done  with  wheelbarrows.  Our  gang  was 
from  forty  to  fifty  men.  After  the  grad- 
ing was  done,  I  helped  lay  the  track,  and 
when  the  cars  began  to  run  to  Waverly, 
N.  Y.,  mother  surprised  us  by  saying  she 
was  going  on  a  vacation. 

She  had  a  girl  cousin,  and  all  through 
their  early  life  they  were  almost  insepara- 
ble ;  but  since  they  were  married  and 
moved  away,  they  had  not  seen  or  heard 
from  each  other  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  Somehow  mother  heard  that  her 
girl  chum  lived  in  Newark  Valley,  N.  Y., 
and  had  decided  to  go  and  see  her. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURUEVANT  2/ 

Mother  was  now  over  sixty  years  old, 
and  quite  feeble,  but  as  she  wanted  to  go 
we  did  all  we  could  for  her.  I  went  with 
her  a  short  distance  on  the  cars,  intro- 
duced her  to  the  conductor,  and  he  prom- 
ised to  help  her.  She  had  never  been 
on  the  cars  before,  and  it  was  a  novel  trip 
to  her.  She  made  the  two  changes  very 
nicely,  and  reached  her  destination  in  the 
evening;  but  on  inquiring  in  a  store  was 
told  that  her  friend  lived  a  few  miles  in 
the  country. 

"  But,"  said  the  merchant,  "  there  is  a 
relative  in  town  that  will  go  right  by  the 
house,  and  I  will  find  him  for  you." 

Soon  the  man  came  with  his  team  and 
they  started.  He  heard  some  of  mother's 
story,  and  as  they  reached  Mr.  Clark's 
(for  that  was  the  name),  he  said  :    - 

"  I  will  hitch  my  team  and  go  i-n  with 
you." 

As  they  entered  the  house  he  said':- 

"  Auntie,  this  is  your  girl  friend." 

The  old  lady  arose  and  asked  who  it 
was,  and  on  being  informed  that  it  was 
the  once  Betsey  Hill,  there  was  a  real  old 


28  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

fashioned  hugging  bee.  They  laughed 
and  cried  till  all  the  rest  laughed  and 
cried,  too,  and  then  the  thirty  years" 
experience  had  to  be  told.  They  could 
hardly  take  time  to  eat  or  sleep.  They 
had  ridden  together  in  an  ox  wagon  from 
Saybrook,  Conn.,  sixty  years  before,  and 
had  spent  their  schooldays  together,  and 
sat  on  the  same  bench.  It  all  came  back 
fresh  to  their  memory.  There  were  many 
relatives  near,  and  all  wanted  a  visit,  so 
mother  was  nicely  entertained,  and  after  a 
stay  of  two  weeks  came  back  to  us  re- 
freshed and  happy  and  the  old  correspond- 
ence was  renewed. 

If  more  mothers  could  have  a  vacation 
they  would  live  longer.  The  preacher, 
merchant,  lawyer,  doctor,  in  fact,  all 
branches  of  business  have  their  vacation, 
but  mother  seldom  gets  hers.  It  is  com- 
mon in  these  days  for  the  girl  and  boy  to 
go,  and  mother  to  stay  at  home. 

SEEKING  A  FORTUNE. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  1869,  I,  having  be- 
come of    age,  started  for  the    great  pine 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  29 

woods  of  Western  Pennsylvania  to  make 
my  fortune.  I  stopped  for  a  day  at  Wil- 
liamsport,  the  city  where  Thomas  Paine 
died,  in  1809.  The  Philadelphia  train 
divided  here  and  made  up  into  two  trains. 
The  passengers  were  all  told  to  get  ofT 
and  go  in  a  large  yard  enclosed  with  an 
iron  fence.  After  the  trains  were  ready, 
an  old  policeman,  with  one  crippled  leg, 
got  up  on  a  box  and  told  the  people  that 
the  front  train  went  to  Erie,  and  the  rear 
train  to  Elmira. 

Said  he,  "  Do  you  understand?" 
Then  he  opened  the  gate,  stood  and 
pointed  with  his  cane  and  shouted  alter- 
nately, "  This  train  for  Erie,  that  train  to 
Elmira."  And  with  all  this  instruction 
many  would  ask  him  which  train  they 
should  board  for  Erie,  and  which  for 
Elmira.     This  was  amusing  to  me. 

After  the  trains  had   gone  a  man  came 
running    with    a    big  satchel    and    asked 
where  the  train  was  that  was  going  to  El- 
mira.    The  officer  told  him  it  had  gone. 
"Well,"  said  he,  "  I  wanted  to  go." 
The    officer   said,  "  There    is    a    freight 


30  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

just  going  to  pull  out,  but  you  will  have 
to  hurry." 

The  man  ran  until  he  stood  side  of  the 
train,  and  then  asked : 

"Where  is  it?" 

The  policeman  limped  over  to  where  he 
was  and  showed  him  the  caboose,  and 
told  him  to  run.  As  he  went  down  the 
track  the  ofificer  shouted  to  the  conductor: 

"  Catch  that  man  and  put  him  in  the 
caboose," 

As  this  was  my  first  long  trip  away  from 
home,  it  was  amusing,  and  I  have  learned 
by  long  experience  to  keep  my  eyes  and 
ears  open  and  to  be  on  time  at  railroads 
and  steamboats  if  I  wanted  to  ride,  as  a 
minute's  delay  has  caused  many  a  wreck 
and  loss  of  life. 

That  afternoon  I  left  Williamsport  and 
arrived  at  St.  Marys  in  Clearfield  County. 
At  midnight  several  of  us  went  to  the 
hotel.  The  barroom  was  open,  but  no 
host  could  be  found.  Some  sat  in  chairs 
and  some  lay  on  benches.  I  went  into 
the  parlor  and  slept  on  the  floor,  although 
there  was  no   fire,  and   it  was  bitter  cold. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  3  I 

The  room  was  very  dark,  and  in  the 
morning  I  found  I  had  slept  with  a  woman 
and  three  children,  and  that  each  knew 
nothing  of  the  others'  presence.  "Where 
ignorance  is  bliss,  it  were  folly  to  be 
wise." 

Next  day  we  walked  thirty  miles  to  a 
lumber  camp,  but  could  get  no  work.  I 
went  from  place  to  place  seeking  em- 
ployment until  I  had  spent  thirty-five 
dollars,  and  was  hungry  many  times. 
Finally  I  got  work  on  a  new  railroad,  but 
the  boss  cursed  the  men  almost  continu- 
ally. I  was  not  used  to  this,  and  resolved 
to  quit,  and  so  at  noon  I  left  the  job  with- 
out pay  and  started  on  the  road  to  for- 
tune. It  was  in  December,  and  very 
cold.  The  snow  was  deep  and  ice  running 
in  the  river.  I  had  a  large  satchel  and 
bundle  and  the  first  thing  I  must  do  was 
to  cross  the  river.  As  there  was  no  boat 
I  undressed  in  a  snowbank,  piled  my 
clothes  and  baggage  on  me  and  waded 
the  stream,  which  was  ten  rods  wide  and 
nearly  four  feet  deep.  This  put  me  in 
good     shape    for    walking,    and    I    made 


32  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

many  miles  that  afternoon,  footsore  and 
tired. 

Just  at  dark  the  road  made  a  queer 
turn  and  I  wa,s  fearful  that  I  might  be  on 
the  wrong  road.  As  there  were  wild 
animals  of  all  sorts  in  those  woods  I  did 
not  want  to  get  lost  and  lay  out  all  night. 
Just  at  this  time  I  saw  a  man  split- 
ting wood  near  a  small  new  house.  I 
went  and  asked  him  if  that  was  the  right 
road  to  Driftwood,  and  he  said,  "Yes." 
I  thanked  him  and  started  on  when  he 
said : 

"  Are  you  going  there  to-night?" 

"Yes,"  said   I. 

"  Well,"  he  asked,  "  what  for?" 

I  told  him  I  was  out  of  work  and  trying 
to  get  home. 

"  Just  come  right  in  here,"  he  said, 
"  and  stay  all  night." 

This  was  about  the  first  pleasant  word 
I  had  heard  for  weeks,  and  I  was  not  slow 
in  accepting  his  proffered  shelter.  He 
inquired  my  name,  and  gave  me  an  in- 
troduction to  his  wife.  They  were  a 
rather  young  couple  with  two  bright  chil- 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  33 

dren.  Supper  was  soon  ready,  and  I  as- 
sure you  I  did  justice  to  the  warm  meal. 
The  potatoes  and  biscuits  were  so  clean 
and  nice.  It  tasted  like  home  cooking. 
The  man  asked  a  blessing  on  the  meal, 
and  one  could  see  the  love  of  Christ  in 
their  faces.  Oh,  what  a  change  from  the 
rough  camp  I  had  left  to  this  lovely 
Christian  home  ! 


CHAPTER   V. 

AMONG  THE  MILLERITES. 

HFTER  supper  we  had  a  long  talk, 
and  the  man  said  they  were  Second 
Adventists.  I  had  never  heard  of  the  sect 
before,  but  their  kindness  to  me  gave  me 
a  good  impression.  At  bedtime  the  man 
read  a  chapter,  and  had  prayer,  then 
showed  me  where  to  sleep.  His  name 
was  George  Miller.  I  awoke  in  the  night 
and  heard  him  singing  a  beautiful  hymn. 
Next  morning  he  talked  Scripture  to  me, 
and  after  breakfast  read  and  we  had  prayer 
again.  He  inquired  after  my  finances  and 
told  me  he  was  afraid  I  would  see  hard 
times  before  I  got  home. 

"  I  will  see  my  brother,"  said  he,  "  and 
if  he  is  willing  we  will  hire  you  a  few  days, 
or  until  you  can  go  home  respectabl}-." 

I  thanked  him    for  his   kind   offer.      He 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  35 

soon  returned  and  told  me  I  was  accepted . 
I  worked  for  them  about  two  weeks,  get- 
ing  out  linebacked  timber.  This  timber 
was  made  of  large  trees  and  as  long  as 
they  could  get  them  into  the  river.  The 
sides  were  flattened  and  the  corners  left 
round.  This  timber  was  rafted  in  what 
they  called  timbersleds,  and  run  to  Ches- 
apeake Bay,  then  towed  two  miles  and 
sawed  into  lumber.  We  climbed  to  the 
top  of  a  very  high  and  steep  mountain, 
then  felled  the  trees  headfirst  down  the 
hill,  and  they  ran  clear  to  the  bottom. 
After  we  had  a  sufificient  number  down  we 
scored  and  hewed  them. 

When  I  thought  I  had  earned  enough 
to  take  me  home  I  told  him  I  had  better 
go,  as  he  only  hired  me  to  assist  me.  So 
he  figured  up  my  wages,  and  said  he 
feared  I  would  not  have  enough. 

"  You  have  got  two  pairs  of  boots,"  he 
said.  "  I  will  buy  one  pair  and  then  you 
will  have  plenty." 

I  sold  him  the  boots.  It  was  necessary 
for  me  to  leave  there  at  midnight  in  order 
to  get  the   train    at   Driftwood,  so  I  asked 


36  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

hiin  to  call  me  in  case  I  should  oversleep, 
and  he  said  he  would.  After  having  a 
good  nap  I  awoke  and  heard  footsteps 
downstairs,  and  thought  he  would  soon 
call  me,  which  he  did.  I  got  up  and 
dressed,  thinking  I  should  have  to  start 
right  out  in  the  snow,  but,  to  my  surprise, 
he  and  Sister  Miller  were  both  up  and  had 
a  midnight  supper  smoking  on  the  table, 
all  ready  for  me.  I  sat  down  and  ate 
while  they  stood  around  and  talked  as  they 
would  to  their  own  son.  He  gave  me 
some  copies  of  the  Advent  Herald  to  take 
home.  Sister  Miller  filled  my  pockets 
with  buttered  biscuits,  and  then  with  my 
hands  in  theirs  they  bid  me  good-bye, 
with  best  wishes  for  my  safe  journey. 

We  parted  never  to  meet  again  until 
Jesus  comes,  when  Brother  and  Sister 
Miller  will  hear  the  "  Well  done ;  enter 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  They  had 
obeyed  the  divine  injunction,  "  Be  not  for- 
getful to  entertain  strangers:  for  thereby 
some  have  entertained  angels  unawares." 
I  was  not  much  of  an  angel  at  that  time, 
but   I  had  a  praying   mother,  asking  God 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  37 

to  protect  her  wandering  boy,  and  this  is 
the  way  he  did  it. 

I  reached  home  in  three  days  with  fifty 
cents  in  my  pocket  and  six  weeks  of  gen- 
iiine  experience  that  was  worth  a  whole  lot 
to  me.  I  gave  mother  the  papers  and 
told  her  of  these  good  people  and  their 
religion. 

She  said,  "They  must  be  Millerites." 
"  Well,  God  bless  the  Millerites  anyhow." 
Since  then  I  had  a  leader  in  an  Ortho- 
dox Church  refuse  to  let  me  sleep  in  his 
barn,  or  on  his  place,  although  I  offered 
to  pay  for  the  privilege.  I  went  a  little 
farther  and  had  a  good  bed  at  the  home 
of  an  infidel,  and  so  we  often  find  ready 
hands  and  tender,  loving  hearts  outside 
the  pale  of  the  church. 

T  saw  a  woman  beg  in  the  street 
On  Christmas  day  for  bread  to  eat ; 
The  city's  chimes  were  ringing  then, 
Peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men. 

I  saw  a  churchman  sleek,  well-fed. 
As  he  passed  the  woman  he  turned  his  head  ; 
The  crumbs  that  fell  from  his  table  that  day 
Would  have  feasted  the  beggar  he  turned  away. 


Ji861220 


38  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

Next  behind  the  churchman  came 

A  woman  whose  brow  was  stamped  with  shame  ; 

From  out  her  purse  a  coin  she  cast, 

And  the  beggar  blessed  her  as  she  passed. 

To  the  church  the  sleek  man  went  his  way  ; 
The  woman  of  shame  would  have  blushed  to  pray  ; 
Yet  which  do  you  think  the  more  blessed  will  be, 
Magdalene  scorned,  or  the  proud  Pharisee? 

— Selected. 

In  one  of  my  old  school  readers  was 
something  like  this:  "If  at  first  you  don't 
succeed,  try,  try  again." 

After  a  stay  of  two  days  at  home  I  bor- 
rowed five  dollars  of  mother  and  set  out 
again  to  seek  my  fortune.  This  time  I 
wa?  more  successful,  and  got  work  at  the 
hard  coal  mines  in  Scranton.  This  was 
in  January,  1870.  They  set  me  to  work 
with  some  German  refugees  that  had  come 
to  this  country  on  account  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war.  They  could  not  talk  to  me 
or  I  to  them,  so  we  were  not  very  social. 
Everything  was  done  by  signs,  and  we  got 
along  very  well.  Within  a  few  days  I  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  breaker  boss,  and 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  39 

had  charge  of  about  fifty  little  slate  pick- 
ers, the  ofTscouring  of  creation,  whose 
only  education  was  in  the  line  of  mean- 
ness. They  had  that  to  perfection,  and 
I  was  glad  when  I  got  relieved. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  BROKEN  PROMISE  AND  REMINDER. 

♦fF  HAD  not  been  at  the  mines  long 
II  when  I  was  ordered  to  go  and  do 
some  work  at  the  shaft,  which  was  a  hole 
ten  feet  square,  and  nearly  two  hundred 
feet  deep.  I  had  never  been  there,  and  it 
was  very  dark  under  the  great  building. 
The  place  was  full  of  men  and  they  gave 
way  and  let  me  through  until  I  stood 
within  six  inches  of  eternity,  when  a  hu- 
man angel  took  hold  of  me  and  showed 
me  the  awful  chasm  at  my  feet.  My  for- 
gotten promise  came  fresh  to  my  mind. 
God  did  not  forget  and  gave  me  this  gentle 
reminder.  I  was  never  so  frightened  be- 
fore. This  was  the  second  time  I  had 
been  at  death's  door,  and  it  had  a  great 
effect  on  me, 

I  went  to  the  next  prayer-meeting,  fully 
resolved  that  I  would  start  to  be  a  Chris- 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  4 1 

tian,  but  there  was  no  invitation  or  oppor- 
tunity given  and  I  went  home  to  my 
boarding  house  with  a  sad  heart.  Shortly 
after  this  I  began  to  attend  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Hyde  Park.  They  organized  a 
Sunday-school,  and  our  lesson  was  the 
20th  chapter  of  John.  This  was  the  first 
Sunday-school  lesson  I  ever  learned,  al- 
though I  was  twenty-two  years  old,  and 
raised  in  a  Christian  home. 

My  conviction  gradually  wore  away, 
and  I  finally  went  to  learn  photography 
with  a  cousin  that  was  very  worldly,  and  he 
thought  I  could  wait  awhile. 

We  boarded  with  two  maiden  ladies  by 
the  name  of  Moore.  They  were  cousins 
of  the  late  Eld.  A.  P.  Moore,  and  were 
Adventists.  They  tried  to  lead  us  to 
Christ,  but  we  thought  it  was  smart  to 
raise  objections,  and  we  quoted  Scripture 
that  was  not  in  the  Bible  to  gain  our 
points.  Finally  they  sent  for  an  old 
gentleman,  by  the  name  of  Fletcher,  to 
come  and  talk  with  us.  He  was  an  Ad- 
ventist,  too,  and  a  regular  walking  con- 
cordance.     He  took   some   of  the  conceit 


42  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

out  of  US,  and  set  us  to  reading  the  Bible. 
I  studied  faithfully  from  that  time  to  see 
what  the  Bible  really  did  teach.  Our 
friend  Fletcher  gave  us  a  pamphlet,  writ- 
ten by  Eld.  Miles  Grant,  entitled,  Death, 
not  Life  :  or  The  Effeet  of  Sin.  This  led 
me  into  the  truth,  and  removed  all  my 
objections  to  the  Bible. 

In  the  following  year  mother  died,  and 
shortly  after  that  there  was  a  revival  meet- 
ing in  our  old  schoolhouse,  and  there  for 
the  first  time  I  confessed  my  sins  and 
asked  God  to  forgive  me.  I  was  not  will- 
ing to  pay  the  price,  and  so  the  cloud  of 
sin  hung  over  me.  This  was  the  starting 
point,  and  led  to  my  conversion  later  on. 

In  1872  I  was  married  to  Miss  Belle  A. 
Johnson,  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  I  was  soon  converted  and  joined  the 
same  church  with  her.  This  was  the 
Braintrem  Baptist  Church,  organized  by 
my  grandfather.  May  24,  1794,  at  Lacey- 
ville,  Penn. 

After  my  conversion  I  was  very  anxious 
to  do  something  in  the  cause,  but  there 
\were  so  many  old  hands  that  the  new  ones 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  43 

had  but  little  show,  so  I  had  to  wait.  I 
worked  with  rough  men,  and  if  I  made 
any  progress  it  was  backward.  We  read 
a  chapter  each  day  and  had  prayer,  until 
we  read  the  Bible  through,  then  we  read 
the  New  Testament  through  five  times  in 
the  same  way. 

I  worked  on  the  river  rafting  logs,  and 
took  some  desperate  chances.  At  one 
time  I  ran  a  log  raft  over  a  river  dam,  and 
everything  went  to  pieces;  logs  turning 
over  endways,  but  I  escaped  unhurt. 

In  the  spring  of  1 875  I  was  employed^ 
to  raft  some  mine  props  for  two  Irishmen. 
This  was  at  the  time  of  the  great  ice  gorge 
in  the  Susquehanna.  As  soon  as  the 
gorge  broke,  which  swept  three  bridges 
out  of  the  town  of  Pittston,  we  started  with* 
this  raft,  and  ran  what  was  called  the  Hog- 
hole  in  Horserace  Dam.  This  was  like 
the  rapids  of  Niagara,  but  we  came  out  all 
right.  The  river  was  very  high,  and  our 
raft  made  sixty  miles  in  six  hours.  This 
was  my  last  trip  on  a  raft. 

Soon  after  this  we  moved  to  Wilkes- 
barre,    where    I  worked    for    a   steamboat 


44  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

company,  and  was  policeman  during  the 
Molly  IVTaguire  trouble.  I  often  went  into 
houses  in  the  slums  and  dragged  men  out 
of  bed  with  their  boots  on,  and  lodged 
them  in  jail.  I  found  this  did  not  belong 
to  Christianity,  and  so,  in  1877,  we  moved 
to  Texas.  We  lived  one  year  at  Seguin 
(pronounced  Sagen).  This  place  was 
named  after  John  Seguin,  a  Mexican,  who 
helped  free  Texas.  Our  house  was  the 
preachers'  home,  and  we  shared  our  corn- 
bread  and  bacon  with  many  a  hungry 
servant  of  Christ. 

I  was  on  the  road  one  day  with  some 
negroes,  when  a  colporteur  came  along  sell- 
ing Bibles.  I  told  him  I  had  one,  so  he 
turned  to  the  colored  men  and  sold  one 
for  $1.25.  The  next  one  said  he  would 
like  a  Bible,  but  only  had  six  bits. 

The  man  said,  "  All  right." 

The  next  one  said  he  only  had  four  bits. 

"All  right,"  the  man  said. 

The  next  one  said  he  only  had  two  bits. 

"All  right,"  said  the  man. 

Then  the  last  one  looked  at  the  Bibles 
very  wishful  and  said  : 


ELD.    H,    S.    STURDEVANT  45 

"  Mister,  I  would  like  one  of  them  Bibles, 
but  I  hasn't  got  no  money." 

"All  right,"  said  the  colporteur,  "  I  will 
give  you  one." 

These  Bibles  were  all  alike.  It  has 
been  the  policy  of  the  American  Bible 
Society  for  many  years  that  every  man 
should  have  a  Bible  if  he  wanted  it,  money 
or  no  money ;  but  I  never  saw  it  demon- 
strated before. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

OUR  NEW  HOME  AND  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

HFTER  one  year  at  Seguin,  we 
moved  on  to  a  new  place  four  miles 
west  of  Sutherland  Springs,  in  the  oak 
woods ;  here  we  built  a  small  log  house 
and  cleared  a  field. 

One  Sunday  morning  a  Methodist 
neighbor  came  to  our  house  bareheaded, 
and  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  and  said  : 

"  Come  out  and  help  find  a  place  for  a 
Sunday-school." 

I  went  with  him,  and  we  soon  found  a 
place.  It  was  near  a  large  blackjack  tree 
that  furnished  ample  shade  for  a  hundred 
people.  We  set  the  next  Wednesday  to 
build  the  pews  and  pulpit.  The  neigh- 
bors all  turned  out  and  we  cut  logs  and 
hauled  them  under  the  tree  for  seats, 
then  split  some  rough  slabs  and  made  a 
pulpit. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVAXT  47 

The  news  went  like  wildfire,  and  the 
next  Sunday  the  woods  were  full  of  peo- 
ple, some  coming  five  and  six  miles,  and 
three  or  four  on  the  same  horse.  We  or- 
ganized the  first  Sunda}'-school  ever  held 
in  that  section.  The  Methodist  brother 
was  chosen  superintendent,  and  I  was 
Bible  class  teacher,  although  I  needed 
some  one  to  teach  me.  I  felt  like  John 
Wesley  after  he  had  been  in  Georgia  seven 
years  trying  to  convert  the  Indians.  On 
his  way  home  some  of  the  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries on  the  ship  were  so  happy  John 
said  : 

"  I  have  been  in  Georgia  trying  to  con- 
vert Indians,  and  who  shall  convert  me?" 

Well,  we  had  a  fine  Sunday-school,  and 
they  seemed  to  think  I  knew  it  all.  We 
had  preaching  once  in  two  weeks.  I  had 
great  difficulty  in  getting  my  large  schol- 
ars to  read  a  verse  of  Scripture.  They 
seemed  timid,  but  I  found  they  could  not 
read,  although  some  of  them  were  twenty 
years  old.  Oh,  what  a  work  could  have 
been  done  here  by  an  able  man,  they  were 
so    anxious    to    learn   the   truth  !      I  have 


48  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

often  thought  I  would  like  to  go  back  and 
take  up  the  work  there. 

This  place  was  forty  miles  southeast  of 
San  Antonio,  in  Wilson  County.  The 
people  of  Southern  Texas  at  this  time 
were  very  ignorant,  as  there  were  no  free 
schools  until  after  the  war.  They  were 
also  filthy  in  their  habits.  Men,  women 
and  children  used  tobacco,  and  were  very 
indolent.  They  get  their  water  largely 
from  depressions,  or  hog  wallows,  which 
they  called  tanks.  These  low  places  fill 
up  during  the  winter,  and  many  of  them 
hold  water  all  summer.  I  have  seen  men 
dipping  up  water  to  take  home  for  cooking 
purposes,  and  a  drove  of  hogs  lying  in 
the  same  mudhole.  These  tanks  in  warm 
weather  breed  vermin,  from  the  size  of  a 
microbe  to  a  mud  turtle.  A  glass  of  water 
contained  thousands  of  them,  large  enough 
to  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye,  and  these 
they  drank  as  an  article  of  food. 

When  I  speak  of  Texas  the  reader  must 
not  think  that  I  mean  all  of  the  State,  for 
Texas  is  large  enough  for  an  empire,  and 
north   of    the   Guadaloupe   River  there   is 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  49 

plenty  of  good  water  and  better  civiliza- 
tion. I  am  simply  describing  the  section 
where  I  lived.  I  never  saw  a  more  hos- 
pitable people  in  all  my  life  than  I  found 
in  Southwestern  Texas. 

In  the  fall  of  1879  we  sold  out  and 
moved  to  a  new  place  eight  miles  east  of 
Sutherland  Springs.  This  place  was 
named  after  Henry  Sutherland,  a  survivor 
of  the  Alamo. 

I  know  history  says  Thermopylae  had 
one,  but  the  Alamo  had  none. 

The  historian  did  not  know  it  all.  The 
morning  of  the  massacre  Mr.  Sutherland 
was  sent  out  to  skirmish.  His  horse  fell 
on  him  and  broke  his  leg.  When  he  got 
back  to  the  Alamo  and  his  comrades  saw 
that  he  would  be  of  little  help  there,  they 
told  him  to  go  to  Gonzales  for  help.  He 
rode  his  horse  forty  miles  on  the  lope 
with  his  broken  leg  and  saved  his  life,  but 
not  the  garrison. 

I  knew  his  son  William  T.  Sutherland. 
He  was  county  surveyor  nine  years.  I 
went  on  several  surveying  trips  with  him, 
sometimes  long  distances  from  home  and 


50  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

Stayed  several  days.  On  one  of  these  trips 
we  camped  for  the  night  on  the  bank  of 
the  Eclato  Creek.  After  supper,  for  we 
did  our  own  cooking,  we  made  our  bed  on 
the  ground,  put  our  blankets  over  us  and 
tried  to  sleep  ;  but  the  wolves  were  plenti- 
ful and  our  little  dog  barked  at  them  till 
midnight.  Then  all  got  to  sleep  and  did 
not  awake  until  sunrise.  Mr.  Sutherland 
raised  up  and  said  : 

"  This  is  pretty  cheeky." 

I  asked,  "  What?  " 

"  Look  here,"  he  said ;  and  when  I 
raised  up  there  was  a  big  hog  in  bed  with 
us.  That  was  the  roughest  bedfellow  I 
ever  had. 

As  I  have  said,  we  sold  out  and  moved 
to  a  new  place.  This  was  a  very  rough 
neighborhood.  Several  murders  had  been 
committed,  and  everybody  seemed  to  live 
in  a  kind  of  dread.  We  camped  under  a 
live  oak  tree,  while  I  built  a  house.  We 
then  felt  the  need  of  a  Sunday-school,  and 
so  I  began  to  look  around.  There  were 
only  two  men  in  the  community  that  made 
any  pretentions  to  religion:    one  a  Baptist, 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  5  I 

the  other  a  Joe  Smith  Mormon.  We  built 
a  schoolhouse,  and  then  organized  a  Sun- 
day-school. The  Mormon  was  superin- 
tendent, and  I  was  instructor  as  usual. 
The  six-shooter  was  about  all  the  law  they 
had,  and  no  one  knew  how  soon  it  would 
be  read  to  him. 

There  were  only  three  men  in  the  neigh- 
borhood that  ever  attempted  to  pray,  and 
the  majority  seemed  entirely  ignorant  of 
what  prayer  meant.  Troops  of  cowboys 
would  get  up  and  go  out  during  praj^er, 
and  their  clanking  spurs  sounded  like  a 
drove  of  horses  crossing  a  bridge.  It  was 
nothing  unusual  for  half  a  dozen  to  be 
talking  during  prayer,  and  neighbors 
brought  six-shooters  and  shotguns  to 
Sunday-school    to    kill    each    other   with. 

My  life  was  often  threatened,  and  they 
were  none  too  good  to  execute  the  threat ; 
not  that  I  had  done  them  any  harm,  but 
because  I  was  not  of  their  stripe.  We 
started  a  day  school,  and  our  stay  of  one 
year  did  considerable  good. 

The  son  of  our  Mormon  was  bitten  by 
a    poisonous    snake,  and    they    feared    he 


52  ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT 

would  die,  but  the  father  believed  in  di- 
vine healing,  so  he  called  in  certain  ones 
to  pray.  There  is  another  remedy  used 
in  Texas  for  snake  bites  ;  namely,  whiskey. 
The  old  gentleman  said,  for  fear  the  prayer 
would  not  avail  they  would  use  both,  so 
they  gave  the  boy  whiskey  and  then 
prayed.  The  boy  got  well.  But  who 
shall  have  the  glory,  the  Lord  or  the 
devil?  They  used  both  remedies,  and 
whiskey  and  prayer  don't  mix. 

Well,  a  missionary  came  from  Western 
Texas  and  preached.  His  sermon,  largely 
on  manslaughter,  took  well.  He  said  he 
had  killed  six  men  on  his  field  of  labor, 
and  this  seemed  to  suit  the  average  Texan 
very  well.  Feeling  that  our  labors  were 
about  ended  in  this  place,  we  sold  out  and 
started  for  our  old  home  in  Pennsylvania, 
which  I  will  relate  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HOMEWARD  BOUND. 

♦#¥"  SHALL  always  believe  there  was  a 
II  plot  laid  to  rob  us  of  what  little  we 
had  before  we  got  away.  The  man  we  sold 
out  to  also  thought  so.  He  had  moved 
into  the  house  before  we  left,  and  was  to 
take  us  to  Cuero,  a  distance  of  two  hun- 
dred miles  with  his  team.  Two  men  came 
to  the  house  and  wanted  to  borrow  our 
gun,  saying  there  were  horse  thieves  in  the 
neighborhood.  They  were  already  heav- 
ily armed,  and  we  could  not  see  what  they 
wanted  of  more  guns,  except  it  was  to  dis- 
arm us,  and  so  we  declined  to  loan  our 
gun. 

Mr.  Walker,  the  man  who  was  to  move 
us,  said  he  thought  it  would  be  prudent 
for  us  to  leave  in  the  night  instead  of 
waiting  till  morning,  as  intended,  and 
thereby  steal  the  march  on  the  would-be 


54  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

robbers.  So  we  left  at  midnight  and  were 
out  of  the  country  of  these  desperadoes  by 
break  of  day.  Mr,  Walker  was  no  ama- 
teur on  the  frontier.  He  had  been  as- 
saulted by  robbers,  and  had  had  six- 
shooters  thrust  in  his  face,  until  he  decided 
that  no  man  would  ever  get  to  his  wagon 
without  facing  a  shotgun.  This  was  the 
only  time  I  ever  left  a  country  between 
two  suns,  and  this  was  not  because  I  owed 
anything  to  any  man  save  the  debt  of  love. 
I  am  not  the  first  man  that  has  used  strat- 
agem to  escape  the  designs  of  evil  men. 
Our  beloved  Abraham  Lincoln  took  the 
advice  of  friends  and  entered  Washington 
in  the  night  and  in  disguise. 

Well,  we  reached  Cuero  the  third  day 
safe  and  sound,  and  took  the  Morgan 
Railroad  to  the  famous  old  town  of  Indi- 
anola,  situated  on  Matagorda  Bay.  It 
was  once  the  main  seaport  of  Southern 
Texas,  but  at  this  time  there  was  but  one 
house  left  of  the  original  town,  and  that  a 
stone  structure  used  for  a  hotel,  and  here 
we  awaited  a  steamer  for  Galveston.  This 
old    town    was    destroyed     in    1864,    by    a 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  5$ 

terrible  tidal  wave  and  a  gulf  storm.  The 
houses  were  wrecked,  and  rubbish  driven 
five  miles  inland. 

At  this  time  a  page  or  two  of  Texas 
history  might  be  of  interest  to  the  reader. 
I  have  often  asked  schoolma'ams  when  the 
city  of  San  Antonio  was  founded,  and  they 
would  pick  up  their  school  history  to  tell 
me,  but  could  not  find  it.  So  we  have  to 
go  back  to  Spain  for  the  information,  and 
there  we  learn  this:  San  Antonio  was 
founded  in  1691,  by  Catholic  monks,  when 
the  Alamo  and  some  mission  buildings 
were  erected.  These  structures  were  made 
of  concrete,  and  stand  to-day  as  monu- 
ments of  the  past.  San  Antonio  was  a 
city  more  than  a  hundred  years  before 
they  had  a  railroad,  or  any  way  of  getting 
supplies  except  by  wagons,  and  freighting 
was  a  great  business  in  the  early  days  of 
Texas.  Mr.  Sutherland  told  me  he  had 
counted  a  hundred  wagons  at  one  sight 
loaded  with  freight.  All  supplies  were 
hauled  from  Indianola,  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  I  have  seen 
sixteen  roads,  side  by  side,  worn   down   to 


56  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

the  hub  by  these  freighters.  That  was 
only  one  route,  and  they  had  several  dif- 
ferent routes. 

Some  of  the  rivers  of  Texas  are  pecul- 
iar. The  St.  Marcos  River  comes  out 
from  under  a  bluff  all  at  once,  and  is  a 
river  from  the  start.  The  San  Antonio 
River  starts  from  the  San  Pedro  Springs, 
just  above  the  city,  and  nearly  circles  the 
city,  there  being  only  one  street  that  will 
let  you  out  without  crossing  a  bridge. 
The  Sibalo  River  sinks  into  the  ground, 
and  is  supposed  to  come  out  at  the  San 
Pedro  Springs,  forty  miles  away.  The 
Comal  River  comes  out  of  the  side  of  a 
mountain  and  runs  down  a  hill  for  nearly 
a  mile,  making  a  splendid  water  power. 

Here  is  the  German  town  of  New  Braun- 
fels,  started  by  a  colony  in  1836.  This 
colony  was  headed  by  a  German  prince 
that  landed  a  shipload  of  emigrants  at 
Indianola  in  the  winter,  and  they  had  but 
few  teams  and  most  of  them  had  to  make 
the  land  trip  on  foot.  They  were  caught 
in  a  blizzard,  and  many  were  frozen  to 
death.      A  few  days  after  the  storm  a  child 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDFA'ANT  57 

was  found  near  the  trail  by  some  Mexicans. 
He  was  too  young  to  tell  his  name,  but 
was  supposed  to  belong  to  these  Germans. 
The  Mexicans  adopted  him  and  taught 
him  the  Spanish  language,  and  gave  him 
the  name  of  DutcJnnan,  which  he  bore  for 
forty  years,  although  he  could  not  speak 
anything  but  Spanish.  He  owned  a  farm, 
and  died  near  Floursville,  in  1879. 

After  a  stay  of  two  days  at  Indianola, 
we  took  a  Morgan  steamer  for  Galveston. 
The  weather  was  fine,  and  the  water  in  the 
bay  was  as  smooth  as  a  millpond.  Just 
as  we  were  to  go  out  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  a  pilot  came  on  board  and  said  it 
was  rather  doubtful  whether  we  could  get 
over  the  bar  at  that  stage  of  the  tide,  and 
so  he  ordered  soundings  made.  Our  boat 
drew  eight  feet  of  water,  and  we  listened 
to  the  leadsman  as  he  called  out: 

"  Fourteen,  thirteen,  eleven." 

"Now  is  the  nip,"  said  the  pilot.  "If 
we  get  a  little  farther  we  shall  inake  deep 
water." 

"  Ten  feet,"  shouted  the  leadsman,  and 
the  next  throw  he  called  out  "nine." 


58  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

By  this  time  everybody  stood  on  tiptoe, 
for  there  was  only  one  foot  of  water  be- 
tween us  and  the  reef.  Some  were  holding 
their  breath,  and  even  the  captain  was  con- 
siderably agitated  ;  but  the  next  throw  of 
the  lead  line  gave  relief,  as  the  man  called 
out  "fourteen,"  and  we  were  now  past  all 
danger. 

We  were  out  on  the  gulf  before  dark  and 
headed  for  Galveston.  We  were  loaded 
with  stock  and  these  wild  Texas  steers 
made  a  terrible  racket.  Once  in  a  while 
our  baby  boy  would  say,  "  Whoa,  cow," 
and  I  had  to  hold  him  to  keep  him  from 
climbing  over  the  rail  of  the  ship.  They 
ran  all  night  by  soundings  and  it  almost 
seems  as  though  I  can  hear  the  voice  of 
the  mate  yet  as  he  called  out,  "  Five 
fathoms   large." 

Next  morning  we  reached  Galveston, 
one  day  too  late  for  the  New  York 
steamer.  This  was  quite  a  disappoint- 
ment, and  caused  a  delay  of  over  a  week, 
waiting  for  another  ship. 

Galveston  was  a  nice  little  city.  The 
streets  were  clean  and  they  had  street  cars 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  59 

drawn  by  horses.  Galveston  has  the  finest 
drive  in  the  United  States.  The  beach  is 
ten  rods  wide,  and  thirty  miles  long  with- 
out a  break.  All  the  water  for  house  use 
was  caught  in  large  tanks.  Each  house 
had  from  one  to  three  of  these  open  tanks. 
And  oh,  mosquitoes  !  Troutdale  isn't  in  it 
with  Galveston  for  these  little  musicians. 
Every  bed  is  screened,  and  even  then  peo- 
ple are  terribly  annox^ed. 

After  a  stay  of  one  week  here  the  ship 
came  that  was  to  take  us  to  New  York.  It 
was  theColorado.underCaptain  Bolger.and 
the  largest  ship  in  the  Malroy  Line.  It  was 
three  hundred  and  forty  feet  long,  forty 
feet  beam,  and  drew  twenty-two  feet  of 
water.  It  had  a  carrying  capacity  of  three 
thousand  tons,  and  could  make  thirteen 
miles  an  hour.  We  took  passage  in  this 
ship  and  had  excellent  quarters.  They 
took  in  a  part  of  their  load  and  then  ran 
outside  the  bar,  cast  anchor,  and  finished 
loading  with  lighters,  which  took  two  days. 
Then  we  sailed  for  Key  West,  a  small  is- 
land seventy  miles  from  the  main  land  of 
Florida. 


60  LIFE   AND   ADVENTURES    OF 

The  average  schoolboy  thinks  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  as  a  large  river  or  lagoon, 
and  perhaps  you  may  be  surprised  when 
I  tell  you  we  were  out  of  sight  of  land  two 
days  and  a  half  on  the  gulf,  and  the  ship 
was  making  thirteen  miles  an  hour.  It  is 
eight  hundred  miles  from  Galveston  to 
Key  West.  We  saw  a  ship  on  fire  near 
Dry  Tortugas.  We  were  so  far  away  that 
we  could  not  help  them,  and  so  went  on 
and  left  them  to  their  fate.  We  landed  at 
Key  West,  and  took  on  freight  and  some 
passengers.  The  little  island  is  seven 
miles  across  and  the  principal  industry  at 
that  time  was  making  cigars.  The  tobacco 
was  raised  in  the  South,  shipped  to  this 
island,  rolled  up  and  then  shipped  North 
for  silly  people  to  smoke.  Is  it  not  strange 
that  people  with  brains  will  spend  their 
their  money  for  such  stuff,  make  a  smoke- 
stack of  their  nose,  burn  out  their  throat 
and  die  of  slow  poison  before  they  have 
hardly  reached  manhood  and  womanhood  ? 
But  such  is  the  case. 

Between  Key  West  and  Cuba  flows  the 
Gulf  Stream,  a  mighty  river  in  the  ocean, 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  6 1 

thirty-two  miles  wide  and  twenty-two  hun- 
dred feet  deep,  and  makes  four  miles  an 
hour.     A  grand  river  indeed. 

After  leaving  Key  West  we  sailed  out 
six  hundred  miles  from  land,  as  the  ocean 
was  rough  and  they  wanted  plenty  of  room. 
Our  little  girl  lost  her  hat  in  the  ocean  and 
we  have  never  gone  back  to  get  it.  My 
wife  was  terribly  sick  until  we  were  nearly 
to  New  York.  The  first  land  we  saw  was 
at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  the  great  Meth- 
odist camp-meeting  town. 

As  we  were  entering  the  harbor  at  New 
York  an  accident  occurred  that  made 
things  lively  for  a  few  minutes.  The  mate 
and  captain  were  on  the  bridge  and  the 
steam  steering  gear  became  disconnected, 
and  we  were  right  in  a  narrow  channel. 
The  mate  went  to  help  the  carpenter.  The 
captain  entered  the  pilot  house  and  called 
to  me  to  lend  him  a  hand.  I  saw  the  di- 
lemma at  once,  and  I  lent  him  two  hands, 
and  we  braced  the  old  ship  up  and  kept 
her  in  the  channel  until  the  machinery 
could  be  adjusted  and  the  steam  power 
used    again.       We    soon    landed    in    New 


62  ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT 

York.  The  Brooklyn  Bridge  was  not  fin- 
ished, and  the  old  Fulton  Ferry  was  all 
they  had  to  cross  over  with.  A  subway 
had  not  yet  been  thought  of,  and  the  street 
cars  were  drawn  by  horses.  There  has 
been  a  revolution  since  then  in  the  way  of 
invention,  and  with  the  numerous  subways 
half  the  travel  of  the  great  city  is  under 
the  ground.  We  often  hear  the  scoffer 
say,  "  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  com- 
ing? for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all 
things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  creation."  Another  day  on 
the  cars  and  we  were  home  again  among  the 
rock  and  hills  of  our  native  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AGAIN. 

HFTER  a  time  I  found  work  in  a  grist 
mill  as  an  engineer;  then  I  worked 
in  a  large  quarry.  Aly  work  was  building 
and  rigging  derricks.  I  built  five  large 
derricks  for  this  company,  and  kept  the 
ropes  and  blocks  in  order,  beside  working 
in  the  blacksmith  shop.  My  knowledge 
of  iron  and  steel  that  I  received  when  an 
apprentice  furnished  me  many  a  good  job, 
and  what  I  learned  about  ropes  while 
canal  boating  has  come  in  play  many 
times,  and  helped  me  to  jobs  when  others 
were  refused.  Every  boy  should  learn  a 
trade,  and  learn  it  well,  then  if  he  does 
not  wish  to  follow  it  he  will  find  it  useful 
all  through  life.  To  work  for  small  wages 
will  teach  a  boy  or  girl  to  be  prudent  and 
careful,  and  they  will  even  save  more  than 


64  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

Others  that  get  much  larger  wages.  My 
boss  raised  my  wages  twice  while  I  was  at 
the  stone  quarry,  without  my  asking  for  a 
raise.  That  showed  me  that  my  labor  and 
knowledge  were  appreciated.  We  lived 
over  two  miles  from  my  work,  and  I  walked 
that  distance  night  and  morning  for  six 
months;  then  we  decided  to  move  the 
house  and  save  me  the  long  walk.  I  got 
some  help  and  we  took  the  house  down, 
moved  it  to  the  quarry,  set  it  up  and  slept 
in  it  that  night.  We  thought  that  was 
quick  work,  and  so  it  was.  While  at  this 
place  I  helped  organize  another  Sunday- 
school.  This  time  in  the  old  schoolhouse 
where  I  received  my  meagre  education, 
for  we  were  living  within  a  mile  of  our 
old  home.  I  was  teacher  of  the  young 
people.  Many  of  the  children  have  since 
become  Christians,  and  there  is  now  a 
church  in  that  place. 

While  living  here  our  third  child  was 
born,  and  so  there  were  now  five  of  us. 
The  next  spring  I  went  into  the  stone 
business  for  myself.  I  took  a  partner  by 
the  name  of  Chase.      He  was  a  good  man 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  6$ 

to  work,  and  we  made  the  rocks  fly. 
There  were  thirty  feet  of  rough  rock  to  be 
taken  off  before  we  reached  the  bed  and 
we  would  have  failed  had  it  not  been  for 
an  invention  of  mine.  We  used  a  derrick 
to  handle  the  rubbish  with,  but  we  were 
on  a  steep  hillside,  and  when  we  swung  a 
load  out  it  would  be  fifty  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  we  had  to  lower  it  clear  down 
before  we  could  unhitch  the  chain.  I  told 
John  (for  that  was  my  partner's  name) 
that  we  must  have  some  way  to  unhook 
while  the  load  was  in  the  air,  but  he  said 
it  could  not  be  done.  I  set  my  genius  to 
work  and  that  night  while  my  wife  was 
washing  the  dishes  I  invented  a  hook  that 
by  pulling  a  little  rope  would  let  go  five 
tons'  weight.  This  little  contrivance  was 
worth  a  thousand  dollars  to  us,  and  only 
cost  one  dollar.  Other  quarrymen  asked 
me  for  the  privilege  of  making  and  using 
my  invention,  which  I  granted,  and  now 
many  quarries  are  using  that  hook,  while 
the  inventor  is  unknown.  While  working 
here  I  dug  out  a  steel  trap  in  the  crevice 
of  the   rock.      This    trap    was   dragged   in 


66  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

there  by  a  wild  cat  thirty-three  years  be- 
fore. The  trappers  were  both  living,  so  I 
gave  them  their  trap. 

In  the  summer  of  1882  I  bought  my 
partner's  interest,  and  run  the  business 
alone.  I  had  good  success,  and  made 
money  very  rapidly,  but  became  so  en- 
grossed in  business  that  I  forgot  my 
Christian  duties  to  a  great  extent,  and  so 
the  Lord  gave  me  another  reminder.  This 
was  the  third  time  I  stood  at  death's  door, 
but  the  good  Lord  did  not  take  my  life, 
for  he  was  not  yet  through  with  me.  He 
was  trying  to  drive  me  out  into  his  vine- 
yard to  gather  sheaves  for  him. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  winter,  and  I 
was  very  anxious  to  get  my  stone  all 
shipped  away  before  the  Lard  freezing 
weather,  for  the  frost  injures  the  stone  un- 
less it  is  out  of  the  bed  long  enough  to 
cure  or  dry  the  sap  out  of  it.  I  had  a 
man  helping  me  haul  stone  to  the  railroad 
two  and  a  half  miles,  and  was  shipping  it 
as  fast  as  possible.  While  loading  a  car 
with  heavy  stone  with  a  derrick  the  chain 
broke  and  let  a  rock    that  weighed   fifteen 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  (ij 

hundred  pounds  fall  on  my  feet  and  legs. 
I  lay  helpless  all  winter.  It  was  feared 
amputation  would  be  necessary,  but  I  finally 
recovered.  I  went  on  crutches  a  long 
time,  and  then  was  able  to  walk  again.  I 
felt  that  I  must  get  away  from  that  part 
of  the  world,  so  sold  my  business  and  with 
a  wife  and  three  children  landed  in  Port- 
land, Oregon,  in  the  early  winter  of    1883. 

We  soon  located  at  Beaverton  and  took 
up  the  Sunday-school  work  there.  In  a 
business  venture  we  lost  all  we  had  and 
weer  heavily  in  debt.  I  think  all  this  was  a 
school  the  Lord  was  putting  me  through 
to  teach  me  humility  and  bring  me  to  my 
proper  place,  for  I  always  thought  the 
Master  had  something  for  me  to  do  for 
him,  although  I  was  very  self-righteous. 

In  a  Free  Methodist  camp-meeting  at 
Beaverton  I  had  the  conceit  all  taken  out 
of  me,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  put  in  its  place. 
Here  the  Lord  called  me  to  preach  and 
the  Scriptures  were  opened  to  me  as  never 
before.  I  lay  awake  all  night  and  praised 
the  Lord,  and  ceased  to  mourn  for  lost 
property. 


68  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

I  helped  organize  a  Baptist  Church  at 
this  place  and  was  chosen  for  elder,  but 
there  were  many  things  in  their  belief  I 
could  not  endorse.  I  rejected  my  call  to 
preach  for  lack  of  education  aud  timidity. 
I  did  not  go  down  to  "  Tarsus,"  but  to  the 
coast  range  of  mountains  and  took  a  home- 
stead. I  was  so  poor  I  had  to  borrow 
twenty  dollars  to  file  on  my  claim.  We 
supposed  we  were  getting  land  in  a  bourn 
where  there  was  not  very  much  timber, 
but  in  this  we  were  mistaken.  When  I 
surveyed  and  found  our  claim  it  was  in  a 
gigantic  forest  of  cedar  and  fir  timber. 
The  trees  were  from  three  to  seven  feet  in 
diameter  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
high,  and  about  forty  to  the  acre.  I  had 
to  carry  provisions  on  my  back  to  live  on 
while  I  cut  nearly  a  mile  of  road  before 
we  could  get  to  our  claim  with  a  team. 
It  took  grit,  grace,  and  backbone  to  hold 
a  homestead  in  such  a  wilderness. 

The  law  required  us  to  be  on  the  land 
within  six  months  after  filing,  but  as  my 
road  was  not  done  I  got  a  man  to  help  me 
carry  my  cook  stove  half   a   mile   through 


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Shrubbery  Around  Our  Cabin  in  the  Mountains 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  69 

the  woods  to  my  cabin.  We  crossed  a 
canyon  on  a  log  fifteen  feet  high,  but  we 
got  there  all  the  same.  This  was  a  tem- 
porary move ;  then  I  finished  the  road  to 
our  place,  got  a  man  to  move  us,  and  late 
in  November  we  moved  in  to  stay.  This 
was  late  in  1885.  I  built  a  cabin  8x10 
feet  square.  We  set  up  two  beds  in  the 
house  and  the  stove,  but  had  to  eat  out- 
of-doors.  It  was  dangerous  to  live  here 
on  account  of  falling  timber,  so  I  set  to 
work  making  a  clearing.  I  had  to  fell  the 
trees  on  five  acres  and  then  build  in  the 
center  in  order  to  be  safe.  This  took 
some  time,  although  I  burned  them  down. 
Several  nights  we  were  driven  out  in  the 
darkness  and  rain  and  had  to  seek  a  place 
of  safety.  One  night  a  monstrous  tree 
fell  within  ten  feet  of  our  cabin,  that  shook 
the  earth,  and  we  were  in  constant  dread. 
I  got  the  trees  down  and  a  log  house 
reared,  and  when  I  went  to  put  on  the 
roof  found  that  a  kind  neighbor  had  stolen 
my  nails,  so  I  only  had  half  enough,  but  I 
went  as  far  as  I  could  with  wife  and  chil- 
dren's  help.      We  all  wanted  to  get  where 


70  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 


1 


it  was  safe,  so  the  day  before  Christmas  we 
moved  in  to  our  new  house  without  a  door 
or  windows  or  fioor,  no  chinking  in  the 
cracks  and  only  half  the  roof  on.  We 
really  felt  that  we  had  got  a  home  and 
praised  God  for  it  without  a  mortgage. 
The  next  day  I  set  fire  to  the  cabin,  burned 
it  down,  and  then  dug  the  nails  out  of  the 
ashes  with  my  fingers  to  finish  the  roof  on 
our  new  house.  How  glad  we  were  to  be 
home  once  more.  We  were  now  quite 
comfortable,  and  I  began  to  put  the  finish- 
ing touches  on  our  house. 

We  lived  eleven  miles  from  a  store  or 
post  ofifice  and  I  have  carried  flour  on  my 
back  that  distance  to  feed  my  family  with, 
and  the  bread  tasted  good,  too. 

We  were  now  ready  to  begin  clearing 
land,  and  with  trees  piled  ten  feet  deep  it 
was  no  small  job.  A  good  auger  is  a 
great  factor  in  Western  Oregon  in  clear- 
ing land  of  timber,  and  as  this  book  may 
reach  other  sections  I  will  give  the  niod?is 
operandi  :  we  bore  a  hole  in  the  top  of  a 
log  and  another  in  the  side  for  draft,  then 
put  hard  wood  coals  in  the  top  hole,  and 


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ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  J I 

the  log  will  burn  off  and  the  same  process 
will  fell  the  big  trees.  Had  it  not  been 
for  this  discovery  Oregon  would  yet  be  a 
howling  wilderness.  To  get  rid  of  this 
enormous  timber  as  they  did  in  the  East 
in  the  days  of  our  grandfathers  would  be 
an  endless  job,  and  few  men  would  ever 
undertake  to  make  a  home  in  the  wilder- 
ness, but  in  this  waj'  it  can  be  done. 


CHAPTER   X. 

BREADWIiNNING. 

^^HE  next  spring,  after  we  located  in 
^^  the  mountains,  we  found  our  stock 
of  provisions  was  getting  very  low,  and  it 
became  necessary  for  me  to  leave  home 
and  find  employment.  This  was  not  very 
pleasant,  as  I  had  seen  cougar  tracks  near 
our  house  as  large  as  a  saucer,  and  some 
of  these  animals  had  been  killed  that  were 
nine  feet  long.  Our  children  were  in  con- 
stant danger,  but  bread  we  must  have,  and 
so  I  bade  adieu  to  loved  ones  and  found 
work  at  a  sawmill  twenty-seven  miles 
away.  I  could  only  get  one  dollar  per 
day,  and  they  wanted  four  dollars  per 
week  for  board.  I  could  not  stand  that, 
so  boarded  myself  in  a  little  cabin.  My 
cooking  outfit  was  not  very  extensive  ;  it 
consisted  of  a  frying-pan  and  a  few  empty 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  73 

cans,  and  in  this  way  I  boarded  myself  six 
weeks  for  just  five  dollars.  When  I  got 
home  my  wife  had  dug  up  some  ground 
and  planted  a  garden.  She  and  the  chil- 
dren took  great  pride  in  that  garden,  and 
it  did  look  nice. 

Next  I  set  to  work  and  cleared  off  half 
an  acre  and  planted  potatoes  with  a  grub- 
hoe,  for  ploughing  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Our  crop  did  well  and  I  soon  learned 
the  art  of  making  shingles,  and  in  that  way' 
we  got  along  quite  well  in  summer,  but 
the  winters  were  terrible.  I  have  dug 
parsnips  under  five  feet  of  snow,  and  they 
tasted  real  good.  I  have  carried  a  veni- 
son miles  on  my  back  more  than  once, 
when  the  snow  was  up  to  my  neck.  There 
were  some  restrictions  on  killing  deer,  but 
when  our  families  were  starving  we  never 
stopped  to  read  law. 

Our  neighbors  with  families  consisted 
of  Jerome  How,  John  Hiltbrand,  L.  G. 
Dix,  John  Mullens,  J.  Gillespie  and  Adam 
Dix.  We  felt  the  need  of  church  and 
school,  as  our  children  were  fast  growing 
up,  so   we   set  to   work   and   erected  a  log 


74  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

church  and  schoolhouse.  This,  so  far  as 
I  know,  was  the  first  Advent  Christian 
Church  building  in  Oregon.  It  was  14  x 
20  feet  inside,  and  would  seat  about  fifty 
persons. 

Eld.  A.  G.  Dix  and  J.  F.  Anderson 
came  and  held  some  meetings  in  August, 
1888,  and  five  were  converted  and  bap- 
tized. We  built  a  dam  in  a  little  mountain 
stream,  and  there,  in  the  solitude,  these 
dear  ones  confessed  Jesus  Christ,  and  were 
buried  in  the  watery  grave  and  arose  to 
walk  in  the  new  life.  This  was  a  lovely 
scene  and  a  happy  day  for  all  of  us.  The 
very  trees  seemed  glad.  Sister  Mullens 
shouted  as  her  twin  girls  followed  Jesus 
through  the  watery  grave,  and  our  daugh- 
ter was  among  the  happy  number. 

We  went  back  to  our  little  chapel  and 
Eld.  A.  G.  Dix  set  in  order  the  Advent 
Christian  Church  of  Mount  \incent,  with 
twelve  members.  I  was  chosen  elder,  L. 
G.  Dix,  deacon,  and  my  wife,  clerk.  This 
was  August  29,  1888.  At  this  time  we 
severed  our  connection  with  the  Baptists 
and  joined   the    Adventists.      I    had    long 


Ailvfiit  (.'hristiaii  Cliiuch  ul  Mduiit  \  lurriit.  Uresjon,  if 


ELD.    H.    S.    S'lURr)?:VANT  75 

believed  these  precious  truths,  but  it  was 
quite  a  step  to  take,  because  all  my  kin- 
dred were  Baptists.  Jesus  said:  "Verily 
I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no  man  that  hath 
left  house,  or  wife,  or  brethren,  or  parents, 
or  children,  for  the  kingdom  of  God's 
sake,  who  shall  not  receive  manifold  more 
in  this  time,  and  in  the  world  to  comei 
eternal  life." 

This  was  a  small  start,  but  from  this  little 
church  in  the  wilderness  two  ministers  and 
evangelists  have  gone  forth  to  preach  the 
Word,  hundreds  have  been  converted  andi 
many  strong  churches  set  in  order  by  my- 
self and  Bro.  L.  G.  Dix,  as  a  result  of  this 
feeble  efifort  in  the  mountains.  This  was 
our  preparatory  course. 

I  preached  my  first  sermon  while  living 
here.  It  was  the  funeral  of  a  child  ;  the 
parents  were  not  Christians.  I  held  forth 
the  resurrection  hope  as  the  only  possible 
way  for  them  to  ever  see  their  child  again. 
The  mother  has  since  become  a  Christian, 
and  an  Advent  Christian,  too. 

We  had  a  good  Sunday-school,  singing- 
school   and   a   day    school    at    this    place. 


"J^  ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT 

While  I  am  not  much  of  a  singer,  I  enjoy 
good  singing.  It  has  been  my  good  for- 
tune to  be  acquainted  with  some  of  the 
best  singers  and  composers  this  country 
has  ever  produced.  P.  P  .  BHss,  James 
McGranahan,  and  many  others  of  their 
day,  used  to  sit  at  my  mother's  table  and 
eat  mush  and  milk  with  us  boys,  and  they 
said  it  was  good.  Some  of  my  sisters  and 
brothers  were  well  v^ersed  in  music,  al- 
though they  got  it  by  hard  knocks. 

There  is  not  a  soul  left  at  Mount  Vin- 
cent to-day.  The  little  faithful  band  have 
scattered  and  taken  the  message  with  them, 
but  the  seed  was  sown,  and  a  good  work 
started  that  will  go  on  and  on  until  Jesus 
comes  and  they  hear  the  "  Well  done." 
Forest  fires,  deep  snows,  wild  cougars,  and 
starvation  all  stared  us  in  the  face,  but  in 
six  years  we  never  called  a  doctor  and 
have  no  regrets  for  our  exile. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THROUGH    THE    WILDERNESS. 

*^^HE  privations,  toil,  and  adventures 
^^  we  passed  through  at  Mount  Vin- 
cent, as  well  as  our  church  relations,  pro- 
duced a  lasting  friendship  between  Bro. 
L.  G.  Dix  and  myself,  and  one  that  will 
not  easily  be  broken.  He  has  well  said, 
we  have  lived  together,  slept  together, 
worked  together,  and  starved  together, 
where  the  snow  was  five  feet  deep.  Yes, 
we  cut  the  trees  and  logs  out  of  the 
roads  where  they  now  run  automobiles. 
Bro.  Dix  got  through  the  wilderness  first, 
although  he  does  not  expect  to  enter  the 
promised  land  until  I  do. 

In  the  winter  of  1890  twenty  feet  of 
snow  fell  in  the  mountains  where  we  lived. 
I  had  a  horse  and  sled,  and  just  before 
the  last  deep  snow  I  hauled  a  load  of  pro- 


78  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

visions  to  my  place  for  Bro.  Dix.  Then 
came  the  snow  and  we  were  among  the 
shut-ins.  Bro.  Dix  came  three  miles  on 
snowshoes  and  hauled  his  provisions  home 
by  piecemeals,  in  a  little  toboggan,  over 
snow  that  was  eight  feet  deep.  The  snow 
kept  thawing,  so  there  was  not  more  than 
that  at  any  one  time.  Our  neighbor, 
Mr.  Mullins,  was  trying  to  get  some  flour 
home,  and  was  stalled,  the  night  of  the 
big  snow,  five  miles  from  home,  with  two 
yoke  of  oxen  and  a  bobsled.  He  un- 
loaded his  flour  in  a  cabin,  took  the  oxen 
back  to  the  river,  and  then  made  his  way 
home  on  foot.  His  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren belonged  to  our  church.  There 
were  eight  in  the  family.  The  road  be- 
tween them  and  the  flour  was  through  a 
dense  fir  thicket,  and  these  little  trees 
were  bent  over  and  tipped  out  by  the 
roots  until  it  was  a  perfect  tangle,  and  the 
snow  over  a  man's  head.  Through  this 
kind  of  a  road  he  carried  the  flour,  tak- 
ing two  days  to  make  a  trip,  and  the 
family  ate  the  flour  about  as  fast  as  it  came. 
Neighbor  Gillespie,  like  Nimrod  of  old. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVWNT  79 

was  a  mighty  hunter.  He  killed  twenty- 
six  deer  that  winter,  and  divided  them 
with  those  worse  off  than  iiimself.  I 
could  not  get  my  horse  out,  and  so  had 
to  pack  our  provisions  on  my  back.  We 
were  "  hail  fellows  well  met"  that  winter, 
and  none  of  us  had  anything  to  boast  of. 
The  roof  of  the  little  church  caved  in, 
and  I  shoveled  nine  feet  of  settled  snow 
off  from  our  house,  beside  what  a  hot 
stove  thawed.  Yes,  we  got  through  the 
ivilderncss,  and  to-day  there  is  not  a  fam- 
ily of  that  church  living  nearer  than 
twenty  miles,  and  some  of  them  hundreds 
of  miles  away,  but  they  took  the  message 
with  them,  and  oh,  what  a  work  has  been 
done  in  soul-saving. 

As  soon  as  the  snow  would  permit  Bro. 
Dix  moved  out,  and  I  was  called  to  Bux- 
ton to  build  a  sawmill.  There  was  not  a 
man  at  that  place,  that  I  know  of,  that 
made  any  pretensions  to  Christianit)%  but 
they  wanted  a  Sunday-school,  and  so  we 
helped  them  organize  one,  and  to-day  they 
have    a    church  and  quite  a   community. 

It  has  been   the  policy  of  Bro.  Dix   and 


80  ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT 

myself,  for  some  years,  when  we  organ- 
ize a  church,  to  get  them  housed  as  soon 
as  possible  ;  then  we  are  quite  sure  they 
can  go  to  work  and  do  good  in  the  Mas- 
ter's service.  I  have  had  some  experi- 
ence in  bee  culture,  but  I  find  that  a 
new  swarm  of  bees  left  hanging  on  a 
bush  seldom  amount  to  much ;  but  put 
them  in  a  clean  hive  and  they  go  right  to 
work  and  produce  honey.  So  with  the 
church  of  God  ;  it  must  be  provided  with 
a  home,  and  thus  be  protected  from  those 
who  pull  down  and  destroy.  Our  people 
are  beginning  to  see  this,  and  when  we 
ask  for  money  to  build  a  church  it  always 
comes. 

While  I  was  helping  Bro.  Dix  on  the 
church  at  Waterloo,  some  }'ears  ago  (for 
we  can  drive  nails  as  well  as  preach),  we 
organized  the  Advent  Christian  Mutual 
Relief  Association.  This  Society  requires 
each  member  to  pay  one  dollar  on  the 
death  of  a  member  to  the  beneficiary 
named  in  the  application.  It  is  doing 
good  work,  and  we  trust  is  a  Christian 
institution. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  END  OF  THE  EXILE. 

HS  many  had  moved  away  our  little 
church  began  to  wane,  and  we  felt 
the  need  of  better  school  privileges  for 
our  children,  as  we  now  had  four:  one 
born  in  the  mountains  of  Oregon,  two  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  one  in  Texas.  In 
March  of  1891  we  sold  the  homestead 
and  moved  to  Cornelius,  where  we  have 
since  lived. 

In  September  of  this  year,  I  received 
a  card  from  Eld.  J.  Dix,  asking  me  to 
come  to  Shady  Brook  and  help  organize 
a  Conference.  There  were  present  at 
that  meeting  Elds.  J.  Dix,  A.  G.  Dix,  J.  F. 
Anderson,  R.  H.  Little,  G.  W.  Ketchum  and 
J.  P.  Woodle,  George  Harris  and  myself. 
The  work  of  organizing  the  Conference 
was   partly  accomplished  and  finished  at 


82  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

Damascus,  Clackamas  Co.,  in  December 
of  the  same  year.  It  was  to  be  known 
as  the  Willamette  Valley  Advent  Chris- 
tian Conference ;  its  territory,  Western 
Oregon.  This  Conference  has  grown  from 
a  mere  bubble  until  it  embraces  all  of  Ore- 
gon, half  of  Washington  and  Idaho.  I  was 
president  six  years,  and  during  that  time 
we  became  incorporated,  and  now  own 
eleven  good  church  buildings,  beside  the 
spacious  campground  at  Troutdale.  I 
have  not  missed  one  of  the  annual  meet- 
ings or  conventions  in  twenty  years. 

I  was  licensed  to  preach  at  Dilley,  in 
1897,  3"cl  in  June  of  1898,  at  a  Conference 
in  Cornelius,  in  company  with  L.  G.  Dix, 
W.  H.  Warner  and  Charles  Hoffenden  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry.  Dr.  William 
Chapman,  of  Seattle,  preached  the  sermon 
from  Jonah  3  :  2  :  "  Preach  unto  it  the 
preaching  that  I  bid  thee."  Elds.  W.  R. 
Young  and  T.  H,  Organ  assisted  in  this 
service.  We  four  that  were  ordained  that 
day  have  never  all  met  at  one  time  since, 
but  all  are  living  and  have  been  graciously 
used  of  God  in  the  salvation  of  many  souls. 


ELL).    II.    S.    STURDEVANT  83 

Before  I  was  licensed  to  preach  they  used 
to  put  me  on  guard  duty.  At  one  place 
some  of  the  "  Cain  family  "  came  to  meet- 
ing and  said  they  were  going  to  take  the 
tent  down  that  night.  Eld.  A.  G.  Dix 
stationed  me  to  watch.  I  got  a  piece  of 
tarred  rope  three  feet  long,  and  tied  a  big 
knot  in  one  end,  then  tucked  it  under  my 
coat.  I  persuaded  most  of  the  roughs  to 
go  inside;  but  there  were  three  fellows 
who  informed  me  that  they  would  do  as 
they  pleased,  and  after  forbearance  ceased 
to  be  a  virtue  I  unrolled  my  tarred  rope  and 
measured  one  of  those  fellows  for  a  tight 
suit.  He  and  his  comrades  fied  for  a  city  of 
refuge  and  there  was  no  more  disturbance. 

At  another  place  the  churches  of  the 
place  were  terribly  shocked  because  our 
preacher  said  man  had  no  immortal  soul. 
The  tent  was  full,  and  after  the  sermon  a 
Methodist  exhorter  walked  up  to  the  stand 
with  his  Bible  and  said  : 

"  I  can  show  you  that  a  man  has  an  im- 
mortal soul." 

"All  right,"  said  the  minister,  "  we  take 
the  ground  that  the  vian  is  the  soul." 


84  LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

"  I  will  show  you  different  from  that," 
said  the  exhorter,  and  began  to  read  Gen, 
2  :  7  ;  "  And  Jehovah  God  formed  man  of 
the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into 
his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  ;  and  man  be- 
came a  living  soul." 

"Hold  on,"  said  the  preacher,  "  what 
was  it  that  became  a  living  soul?" 

He  looked  again  and  said,  "  It  was 
the  man." 

"  Well,"  said  our  minister,  "  that  is  what 
I  told  you." 

The  man  shut  his  Bible  and  took  a  walk, 
apparently  wiser  than  when  he  came. 

Since  I  began  to  preach  the  Lord  has 
blessed  me  in  many  ways,  and  all  through 
my  life  he  has  been  good  to  me.  I  have 
had  howling  mobs  surround  the  house 
where  I  was  preaching,  had  doors  locked 
in  my  face  by  infidels,  been  in  perils  by 
land  and  sea ;  twice  had  my  foot  raised  to 
take  a  step  and  something  hindered  me, 
and  when  i  looked,  saw  a  huge  rattle- 
snake ready  to  strike,  and  the  still, 
small  voice  had  saved  me.  I  also  know 
what    the    beloved    Paul    meant  when   he 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  85 

said,  "  In  perils  among  false  brethren," 
and  feel  that  this  is  worst  of  all.  But 
God's  grace  is  sufficient  and  his  prom- 
ises sure.  Jesus  said,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
ahvay." 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

OUR    VACATION. 

♦tfl'N  sixty  years  we  have  had  but  one 
n  real  vacation,  although  we  have  trav- 
eled twenty  thousand  miles  by  sea  and 
and,  and  visited  many  of  the  large  cities 
of  this  country.  We  were  always  cum- 
bered with  the  cares  of  life,  so  we  could 
not  enjoy  the  sights  as  we  would  like  to 
have  done.  In  1907  we  sold  some  prop- 
erty, or  rather  the  Lord  sold  it  for  us.  I 
had  this  property  in  the  hands  of  three 
real  estate  men  for  over  a  year,  and  so  far 
as  I  know  no  one  ever  went  to  look  at  it. 
Finally  I  told  the  Lord  if  he  would  sell 
that  property  I  would  pay  my  debts  and 
put  fifty  dollars  into  the  cause.  In  a  very 
few  days  a  man  came  and  paid  me  cash 
for  the  property.      I   paid  all  the  creditors 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  8/ 

I  could  find,  and  put  the  fifty  dollars  into 
the  Lord's  work,  and  we  had  several  hun- 
dred dollars  left. 

We  had  now  been  twenty-four  years  in 
Oregon,  and  as  wife  and  I  still  had  brothers 
and  sisters  in  Pennsylvania  we  resolved  to 
take  a  vacation  and  make  a  real  visit.  I 
wrote  to  my  brother  in  Kansas,  and  he 
decided  to  go,  too,  and  take  his  wife.  It 
would  be  a  long  story  to  tell  all  the  par- 
ticulars of  this  trip.  There  had  been 
wonderful  changes  in  twenty-four  years. 
We  had  a  tourist  sleeper,  and  everything 
was  clean  and  nice. 

After  we  passed  Cheyenne,  a  colored 
woman  got  on  the  train.  She  sat  near  us, 
and  was  young  and  good-looking.  She 
seemed  troubled  about  something.  I 
spoke  to  her  and  asked  her  if  she  was  a 
Christian. 

"  Yes,"  she  replied,  "  I  belong  to  the 
Baptist  Church." 

I  gave  her  some  tracts  and  asked  her 
where  she  was  going.  She  said  she  had 
received  three  telegrams  that  her  mother 
was  dying  in  Kansas  City. 


88  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

"  And  I  want  to  see  her  so  bad  ;  but 
these  cars  seem  to  go  so  slow." 

I  thought  they  made  good  time. 

At  this  time  the  news  went  through  the 
car  that  a  high  raih'oad  official  had  boarded 
the  train  and  must  be  in  Omaha  at  a  cer- 
tain hour.  Everything  was  ordered  side- 
tracked for  us  and  our  train  almost  flew. 
1  thought  I  could  see  the  hand  of  God  in 
this,  and  that  our  colored  sister  would  see 
her  mother  alive.  When  we  reached  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  she  left  the  train,  and  a  red-capped 
usher  met  her  and  they  went  on  the  run  for 
the  Kansas  City  train.  "  Surely  the  wrath 
of  man  shall   praise  thee"  (Psa.  "jG:    lO). 

From  Chicago  we  took  the  Wabash  and 
went  through  Canada.  Next  morning,  as 
we  neared  Niagara  Falls,  people  began  to 
board  the  train.  I  remember  an  old  lady 
who  sat  near  us.  M\'  wife  asked  me  what 
time  it  was.      I  told  her,  but  said  : 

"  My  watch  is  an  hour  slow." 

"  Haven't  you  changed  it  since  we  left 
home?"  she  asked. 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "at  Cheyenne  I  set  it 
ahead  two  hours. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  89 

At   this    the    old    lady    looked    at    us  in 
astonishment  and  said  : 

"  IV/icre  did  you  come  from?" 

It  seemed  to  her  that  Oregon  was  in  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 

We  reached  Laceyville,  our  destination, 
in  six  days,  and  found  friends  waiting  for 
us  at  the  depot.  As  we  wended  our  way 
through  the  old  town,  toward  my  wife's 
brother's,  they  began  to  fall  in  line,  and 
we  soon  had  a  long  procession.  We  were 
surprised  to  see  so  many  acquaintances  of 
the  long  ago.  I  saw  seven  of  my  old 
school-teachers,  and  friends  and  relatives 
by  the  score.  Brother  and  I  visited  the 
old  home  where  we  were  born,  or  rather 
the  ground,  for  there  was  not  a  building 
left;  even  the  trees  were  gone.  The  only 
indication  that  a  house  had  ever  been 
there  was  the  old  well.  They  had  not 
moved  that.  The  sweep  and  the  "old 
oaken  bucket"  were  no  more ;  a  flat  stone 
lay  over  the  well;  we  moved  it  and  looked 
in.  The  interior  looked  natural.  Father 
had  tied  me  in  the  bucket  and  let  me  down 
in   that  well,  when   I  was  three  years   old. 


90  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

to  get  an  iron  wedge ;  and  when  I  was 
eleven  some  women  let  me  down  to  get  a 
little  boy's  hat ;  but  now  that  silent  wit- 
ness was  all  that  remained  of  a  once 
pleasant  home. 

Next  we  visited  mother's  grave.  It 
needed  some  repairs,  so  we  cut  away  the 
briars,  smoothed  off  the  ground,  and  then 
got  a  nice  flagstone  and  laid  it  like  a 
blanket  over  the  grave.  I  took  a  chisel 
and  carved  the  word  Mother  on  the  stone, 
and  we  left,  feeling  that  we  had  done  what 
we  could,  but  in  the  resurrection  morning 
the  stone  will  be  rolled  away. 

During  our  stay  in  Pennsylvania,  a  Bap- 
tist minister  died.  He  was  my  cousin  and 
eighty-five  years  old.  I  had  heard  him 
preach  fifty  years  before,  and  now  his 
children  asked  me  to  preach  his  funeral 
sermon,  which  I  did.  The  text  he  had 
selected  a  few  days  before  he  died.  It 
was  Luke  23  :  28.  This  was  the  same 
man  who  put  the  bundle  of  rye  straw  in 
my  father's  grave  fifty-two  years  before. 
I  read  the  same  90th  Psalm  and  preached 
the  resurrection   as  the   only  hope.      Four 


ELD.    H.    S.    STUKDEVANT  9 1 

of  my  old  school-teachers  listened  to  that 
sermon.  Then  we  went  to  the  cemetery; 
but  oh,  what  a  change  since  father  was 
buried  !  This  gorgeous  casket  was  low- 
ered into  a  satin-finished  tomb  by  clock- 
work, and  the  song  and  other  services 
took  place  while  it  was  descending.  His 
family  were  all  present.  I  had  known 
them  from  childhood. 

There  were  only  four  of  my  father's 
family  living,  and  we  all  visited  together, 
and,  strange  to  say,  the  oldest  and  young- 
est of  the  family  were  present,  a  sister 
eighty-nine  and  a  brother  fifty-eight.  I 
preached  in  the  old  Baptist  Church,  or 
rather  the  new  one,  for  they  had  built  a 
fine  new  edifice.  This  was  on  the  thirty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  our  wedding. 

We  attended  the  annual  gathering  of  my 
grandfather's  descendants.  There  were 
present  over  two  hundred,  and  many  could 
not  come  to  the  feast.  Grandfather  Stur- 
devant  was  a  soldier  under  George  Wash- 
ington, and  served  seven  years.  He 
walked  his  beat  at  Valley  Forge  that  ter- 
rible   winter,    when    their   bare    feet   stuck 


92  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

out  through  their  shoes.  He  was  at  the 
surrender  of  CornwalHs  and  many  other 
noted  "events.  Of  his  descendants  there 
have  been  thirteen  preachers,  all  Baptists 
but  three. 

Next  we  went  to  Binghamton,  N.  Y., 
and  attended  the  reunion  of  mother's  rela- 
tives. Her  maiden  name  was  Hill.  We 
also  visited  some  relatives  of  my  wife  at 
this  place ;  one  of  them  was  warden  in  the 
jail.  He  took  us  through  the  institution 
and  showed  us  many  things  taken  from 
the  prisoners.  There  were  many  whiskey 
bottles,  but  not  a  single  Bible  in  the  exhibit. 

We  had  a  fine  visit  at  Sayles  with 
friends,  and  then  went  back  to  Meshoppen 
and  other  places;  but  time  was  too  short 
to  see  all  the  friends,  and  after  a  stay  of 
two  months  among  the  hills  and  dales  of 
our  childhood,  we  bade  them  farewell, 
and,  with  thankful  hearts  for  the  visit  we 
had  been  privileged  to  make,  we  turned 
our  faces  toward  the  setting  sun,  to  view 
once  more  the  land  of  our  adoption,  the 
great  country  of  all  countries,  where  rolls 
the  Oregon. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  93 

We  Stopped  at  Chicago  and  sawBro.  O. 
R.  Jenks,  then  took  our  tourist  for  Oakland, 
crossed  Great  Salt  Lake  on  a  bridge  thirty 
miles  long,  went  through  forty  miles  of 
snowshed,  and  reached  Oakland  one  morn- 
ing at  daylight.  Visited  our  daughter, 
the  Advocate  ofifice,  San  Francisco,  and 
other  places ;  had  an  excellent  visit  with 
Bro.  Young  at  his  home,  saw  two  mem- 
bers of  the  Mt.  Vincent  Church,  preached 
once  in  Oakland,  then  started  on  the  home 
stretch,  where  we  arrived  safe  and  sound 
after  an  absence  of  two  months  and  a 
half.  VVe  had  traveled  over  eight  thousand 
miles  without  any  mishap  and  found  our 
loved  ones  at  home  all  well  and  happy. 
This  was  really  the  trip  of  our  lives,  and 
one  long  to  be  remembered. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

EVANGELISTIC    WORK. 

BT  one  time  Bro.  L.  G.  Dix  and  I  held 
meetings  fifty-three  nights  in  suc- 
cession at  different  places.  Many  were 
converted  and  baptized,  and  two  new 
churches  were  organized.  At  the  close  of 
this  campaign,  Sister  Howlet  asked  me  to 
come  back  and  preach  for  them  once  a 
month,  which  I  did  for  about  two  years, 
making  my  home  while  there  either  at 
Bro.  J.  P.  Woodle's  or  at  Bro.  William 
How^let's.  As  a  result  of  these  monthly 
meetings  and  my  personal  work  I  baptized 
five  of  Bro.  Woodle's  sons  and  daughters 
and  a  daughter  of  Bro.  Brower.  This  was 
fifty  miles  from  my  home,  in  the  foothills 
of  the  Cascade  Mountains.  A  long  jour- 
ney, but  a  warm  welcome  when  I  got  there. 
They  always  had  a  good  fire,  a  warm,  com- 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  95 

fortable  bed,  and  plenty  of  big,  red 
apples. 

At  another  time  I  held  a  meeting  at 
Spring  Valley.  The  schoolhouse  had  no 
lamps,  and  I  had  to  read  and  preach  by 
the  light  of  a  smoky  lantern.  I  made  men- 
tion of  this  in  my  report  to  the  Advocate, 
and  in  a  few  days  got  a  letter  from  an  un- 
known sister  with  three  dollars  in  it ;  she 
said,  "  This  is  to  buy  you  a  new  lantern." 
I  went  and  called  on  the  sister  and  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  me  to  preach  in  their 
schoolhouse.  After  a  time  the  husband 
died  and  they  sent  fifty  miles  for  me  to 
come  and  preach  the  funeral  sermon. 
Three  months  later  the  sister  died  and  I 
was  called  again  to  speak  words  of  comfort 
to  a  sorrowing  family.  The  resurrection 
was  her  hope  and  Jesus  her  abiding  Friend. 
As  a  result  of  this  work  I  baptized  her  son 
and  daughter  and  daughter-in-law. 

At  one  time  while  preaching  from 
I  Kings  18:  21,  the  wife  of  a  drunkard 
gave  herself  to  the  Lord.  God  only  knows 
what  she  had  to  endure,  but  she  now  felt 
that  she  had  a  Friend.     May  God  pity  the 


q6        life  and  adventures  of 

drunkard,  and  save  the  wife  and  children, 
and  give  the  saloon-keeper  his  just  reward  ! 
When  they  take  their  own  medicine  they 
go  the  way  they  send  their  customers. 
Since  the  day  that  Noah  got  drunk  there 
has  not  been  one  redeeming  feature  in 
strong  drink.  The  Word  says,  "  taste 
not,"  "  and  touch  not  tiie  unclean  thing." 

Modern  whiskey  is  made  from  the  al- 
cohol distilled  from  the  slush  of  sugar- 
houses  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  and  is 
composed  of  dead  rats,  bats,  and  beetles, 
and  all  manner  of  filth.  If  the  drunkard 
could  see  what  his  beverage  is  made  of  he 
would  turn  from  it  in  disgust.  No  wonder 
it  produces  insanity  with  all  its  train  of 
evils. 

In  one  small  town,  near  where  I  once 
lived,  the  saloon  record  is  about  this  (I 
only  mention  what  came  to  light,  as  I  was 
not  on  the  inside,  and  this  is  for  a  period 
of  twenty  years)  :  five  saloon-keepers  died 
from  the  effect  of  whiskey,  two  of  their 
patrons  were  hung  for  murder,  several 
sent  to  the  insane  asylum ;  there  have 
been  numerous  cases  of  delirium  tremens, 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  97 

several  innocent  girls  have  been  betrayed 
and  ruined,  and  still  the  abominable  traffic 
is  sustained  and  often  voted  for  by  CJinrch 
jnembcrs.  May  God  pity  these  blind 
guides  and  hasten  the  day  when  this  traffic 
will  be  abolished  by  the  coming  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

This  little  volume  would  not  be  complete 
should  I  miss  the  work  at  Hillsboro.  I 
was  called  there  August  i,  1909,  to  preach 
to  a  little  band  assembled  at  Bro.  Caleb 
Hall's.  After  the  service  we  proposed  an 
organization  and  all  seemed  to  favor  it, 
and  so  we  set  in  order  the  Advent  Chris- 
tian Church  of  Hillsboro,  with  thirteen 
members.  They  chose  me  for  their  pas- 
tor. We  met  at  Bro.  Hall's  for  over  a 
year,  during  which  time  Bro.  E.  VV.  Shep- 
ard  held  a  tent  meeting,  and  there  were 
several  converted,  and  with  other  additions 
we  now  numbered  about  thirty.  I  pro- 
posed the  building  of  a  house  of  worship. 
Our  faith  was  rather  weak  at  first,  but 
after  much  prayer  and  consideration  we 
started  to  build.  Bro.  Hall,  Bro.  Bloyd 
and    myself    were    chosen    for   a   building 


98  ELI).    H.    S.    STUKDEVANT 

committee,  and  they  chose  me  as  architect 
and  builder.  We  all  took  hold,  and  the 
good  work  progressed  rapidly.  Money 
came  from  far  and  near,  often  more  than 
we  asked  for,  and  in  three  months  from 
the  laying  of  the  foundation  the  house  was 
completed,  and  dedicated  Dec.  lo,  1910. 
It  was  truly  faith,  work  and  prayer.  Eight 
States  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada  are 
represented  in  the  building  of  this  house 
of  worship.  May  God  bless  the  donors, 
and  give  them  eternal  life  and  land  when 
Jesus  comes.  We  have  a  real  live  church 
at  Hillsboro,  and  the  Lord  is  adding  to  us 
such  as  shall  be  saved.  To  him  be  all  the 
glory. 

We  hope  and  trust  the  reader  will  be 
ainply  repaid  for  perusing  this  little  work, 
and  not  fail  to  read  the  accompanying 
essay,  as  many  false  statements  have  been 
made  about  Adventists. 


Advent  Christian  Church  of  Hillsboro.  Oregon.  1910 


A    POEM 

IIV    THE    AUTHOR   OF   THIS    BOOK,    ENTITLED 

Trials  and  Triumphs  of  the  Saints. 


When  human  creeds  were  first  begun, 

'Tvvas  only  man's  device  ; 
The  first  one  that  we  read  about, 

A  council  made  at  Nice. 

These  human  declarations. 

Made  cunning  as  a  fox, 
Caused  martyrs  by  the  million, 

So  they  called  it  Orthodox. 

Oh,  hateful  creeds,  what  have  you  done! 
Made  blood  and  tears  like  rivers  run  ; 
But  God's  Word  is  our  safest  guide. 
Its  promises  are  sure  and  tried. 

Shall  we  to  heathendom  go  back. 
And  thus  forsake  the  narrow  track 
That  tells  of  life  beyond  the  tomb. 
Where  earth  will  be  perpetual  bloom, 


lOO  LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

And  youth  and  vigor  come  again 
To  all  who  trust  in  Jesus'  name? 
The  lame  shall  leap,  the  Hind  shall  see, 
And  eat  the  fruit  of  Eden's  tree. 

And  we've  not  very  long  to  wait, 
The  Shepherd  soon  will  ope  the  gate, 
And  bid  his  lambs  come  to  the  fold, 
And  be  protected  from  the  cold. 

Now,  friend,  have  you  the  message  heard? 
If  not,  I'll  point  you  to  the  Word 
That  tells  of  life  and  endless  day. 
When  all  our  tears  are  wiped  away. 

The  earth  is  groaning  'neath  the  curse. 
And  things  seem  getting  worse  and  worse. 
But  this  we  find  within  the  Word, 
Points  to  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

We  patient  wait  and  hope  and  trust 
That  we've  already  seen  the  worst ; 
And  soon  the  trumpet's  joyful  sound 
Will  raise  the  dead  with  one  glad  bound. 

And  we  the  living  with  them  rise, 
To  meet  the  Saviour  in  the  skies  ; 
This  done,  the  rest  we'll  understand 
And  be  possessors  of  the  land. 

He  comes  the  waiting  ones  to  bless. 
And  him  we'll  surely  see  ; 
"  My  reward  is  with  me."  so  he  said. 
It's  immortality. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  10 1 

Then  lift  your  eyes  and  look  around  ; 

The  signs  are  in  the  past ; 
Have  on  the  wedding  garment, 

And  stand  among  the  just. 

Our  absent  Lord  will  soon  return 

Triumphant  from  the  skies  ; 
For  you  and  me  he  gave  his  life, 

A  willing  sacrifice. 

Even  so,  then  come.  Lord  Jesus, 

Thy  waiting  ones  to  free  ; 
Eternal  life  will  then  be  ours, 
Sweet  Immortality. 

Eld.  H.  S,  Stukdevant, 

Corneliics,   Oregon. 


WHAT   IS   ORTHODOX 
ADVENTISM  ? 


An  Essay  prepared  and  read  by  Eld.  H.  S.  Stur- 
devant,  at  the  Portland  Convention  of  Advent- 
ists,  Feb.  5,  1909,  by  request  of  the  president 
and  passed  without  critiiis>n . 

♦flTN  considering  this  question  we  do  not 
II  propose  to  be  governed  by  the  opin- 
ions of  men,  nor  do  we  take  heathen 
mythology,  false  science,  or  any  of  the 
latter-day  delusions,  "  new  methods,"  or 
higher  criticism,  as  our  guide,  but  expect 
to  lean  firmly  on  the  Word  of  God,  as 
found  in  the  Book.  "  Yea,  let  God  be  found 
true,  but  every  man  a  liar  ;  as  it  is  written. 
That  thou  mightest  be  justified  in  thy 
words." 

Upon  a  subject  that  was  pronounced  by 
God  himself  in  the  very  beginning,  that 
has  been  taught  by  prophets,  priests,  and 


104         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

kings  all  down  the  stream  of  time,  by 
Christ  and  his  chosen  apostles,  as  well  as 
by  the  early  fathers,  and  taken  up  dur- 
ing the  last  seventy  years  or  more  by  the 
ablest  men  of  this  and  other  countries, 
it  would  seem  folly  for  me  to  try  to  pre- 
sent anything  new.  The  ground  has  all 
been  ploughed  and  harrowed  so  many 
times,  what  I  shall  say  will  be  simply  to 
"stir  up  your  sincere  minds  by  putting 
you  in  remembrance"  (2  Peter  3:1).  I 
shall  therefore  take  up  the  subject  under 
several  different  heads. 

First,  will  be  the  second,  personal,  visi- 
ble coming  of  Jesus  Christ  to  this  earth, 
to  raise  the  dead,  judge  the  world,  and 
set  up  his  everlasting  kingdom  under  the 
whole  heavens.  The  second  coming  of 
Christ  is  mentioned  over  three  hundred 
times  in  the  New  Testament  alone,  and  for 
two  thousand  years  the  often  faint  heart 
of  the  Christian  has  been  cheered  by  the 
words  of  the  Master,  as  he  said  to  his  de- 
sponding disciples,  "  /  zvill  come  again" 
(John  14:  3),  and  upon  this  coming 
hangs  the  zvJwlc  Christian  hope.     It  is  the 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  I05 

one  vital  truth  we  must  cling  to  or  we  can 
give  no  intelligent  reason  for  our  hope. 
We  would  drift  at  once  into  vagaries  that 
would  have  neither  side  nor  bottoni.  The 
second  coming  of  Christ  in  some  way  is 
believed  by  nearly  all  Christians,  but  as  to 
the  purpose  and  manner  of  his  coming  the 
most  contradictory  views  prevail.  Does 
this  confusion  arise  from  the  obscurity  of 
the  Word  or  from  skeptical  theology? 
We  think  the  latter  is  the  prime  cause  of 
all  this  speculation,  for  nothing  in  thcr 
whole  inspired  Word  of  God  is  made  more 
clear  or  of  more  import  than  is  the  second 
coming  of  Christ, includingthe  manner,  pur- 
pose, and  approximate  time  of  that  event. 

God  said,  in  the  very  beginning,  the  seed 
of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's 
head  (Gen.  3  :    15). 

Patient  old  Job  got  a  glimpse  of  the 
second  coming  when  his  Redeemer  would 
stand  the  second  time  on  the  earth,  and 
said  :  "  Oh  that  my  words  were  now  writ- 
ten !  oh  that  they  were  printed  in  a  book  ! 
That  they  were  graven  with  an  iron  pen 
and  lead  in  the  rock  for  ever !      For  I  know 


I06         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  he  shall 
stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the  earth  : 
and  though  after  my  skin  worms  destroy 
this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God" 
(Job  19:  23-27).  The  prophet  Isaiah 
saw  the  second  coming  and  said:  "Thy 
dead  men  shall  live,  together  with  my 
dead  body  shall  they  arise.  Awake  and 
sing,  ye  that  dwell  in  dust  "  ( Isa.  26  :  19). 
David  saw  the  far-off  event  when  he  said  : 
"  Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands." 

It  is  going  to  be  a  day  of  great  joy  for 
his  people  when  the  sleeping  millions 
stand  once  more  on  their  feet  and  hail 
their  coming  King.  He  went  away  visible, 
and  angels  testified  that  he  would  come 
as  he  went,  and  why  should  men  stretch 
their  imagination  and  say  that  he  is  here 
now,  and  that  he  comes  constantly,  as  some 
afifirm.  He  went  away  in  a  cloud  (Acts 
i:  9-1 1 ).  In  Rev.  I  :  7  the  angel  said: 
"Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds;  and 
every  eye  shall  see  him."  He  is  not  go- 
ing to  come  a  thousand  times,  as  some 
theorists  say,  but  the  second  time  (Heb. 
-9:    28),  and  that  will  be  his  last  coming. 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  lO/ 

John  Wesley  believed  and  taught  the 
second  coming  of  Christ,  and  went  so  far 
as  to  set  the  time  ;  but  many  of  his  follow- 
ers, for  fear  of  being  laughed  at,  have 
sought  out  many  inventions,  and  are  be- 
ginning to  say :  "  My  Lord  delayeth  his 
coming;  "  but  their  scoffing  and  unbelief 
will  not  block  the  wheels  of  God.  The 
same  Jesus  that  went  away  will  come  again, 
not  as  the  despised  Nazarene  who  walked 
the  earth  barefooted  and  alone,  but  as 
Judge  and  King  (Matt.  i6:  27). 

"  All  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear 
his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  "  (John  5  : 
28,  29).     Blessed  promise,  glorious  hope  ! 

The  Resurrection  and  Reward. 

Paul  said  :  "  I  delivered  unto  you  first 
of  all  that  which  I  also  received,  how  that 
Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures;  "  and  yet  we  are  told  by  good 
men  that  Christ  never  died  !  Jesus  said  : 
"  I  am  he  that  liveth,  and  was  dead''  (Rev. 
I  :  18),  and  so  we  must  demur  from  the 
statements  of  even  great  men  when  they 
contradict  the  Word  of  God.     Jesus  said  : 


I08         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

"  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also  "  (John 
14:  19),  and  in  Luke  14 :  14,  "Thou  shalt 
be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the 
just;"  and  so  the  whole  Christian  hope 
depends  on  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and 
iiis  second  coming  to  raise  the  dead  and 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness.  The 
old  prophet  Isaiah  said  :  "  Thy  dead  men 
shall  live,  together  with  my  dead  body 
shall  they  arise.  Awake  and  sing,  ye  that 
dwell  in  dust:  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew 
of  herbs,  and  the  earth  shall  cast  out  the 
dead"  (Isa.  26:   19). 

And  then  again  hear  the  voice  of  Paul, 
speaking  of  both  the  living  and  the  dead: 
"Behold,  I  show  you  a  mystery;  We 
shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be 
changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  at  the  last  trump:  for  the  trumpet 
shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised 
incorruptible,  and  we  (the  living)  shall  be 
changed.  For  this  corruptible  must  put 
on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put 
on  immortality  "    ( i  Cor.  15:5  1-53  ). 

Again  in  i  Thess.  4:  13,  he  says:  "I 
would  not  have  you  to  be  ignorant,  breth- 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  IO9 

ren,  concerning  them  which  are  asleep,  that 
ye  sorrow  not,  even  as  others  which  have 
no  hope.  For  if  we  beheve  that  Jesus 
died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also 
which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with 
him.  For  this  we  say  unto  you  by  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  that  we  which  are  alive 
and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
shall  not  prevent  (or  come  before)  them 
which  are  asleep.  For  the  Lord  himself 
shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout, 
with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with 
the  trump  of  God  :  and  the  dead  in  Christ 
shall  rise  first."  So  do  not  worry  about 
the  sleeping  ones. 

For  at  the  first  blast  of  the  judgment 
trumpet  a// the  righteous  dead,  from  Abel 
till  the  end  of  time,  will  stand  once  more 
on  their  feet,  and  be  alive,  because  Jesus 
said  :  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also." 
Blessed  hope,  glorious  promise,  that  thro  ugh 
Jesus  and  the  resurrection  we  shall  all  live 
again  to  die  no  more.  Death  will  have  no 
more  dominion  over  us.  But  to  believers 
in  Christ  is  promised  eternal  life,  and  to 
them   alone,   because   that   through   death 


no         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

and  the  resurrection  Christ  conquered 
death  and  became  the  author  of  eternal 
life,  and  so  death  and  the  devil  will  be  de- 
stroyed (Heb.  2  :    14). 

What  is  Eternal  Life,  and  by  Whom  Will 
it  be  Bestowed? 

Let  the  inspired  Word  speak  again.  In 
Rom.  2  :  5—7,  we  read  :  "  But  after  thy 
hardness  and  impenitent  heart,  treasurest 
up  for  thyself  wrath  in  the  day  of  wrath 
and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment 
of  God ;  who  will  render  to  every  man 
according  to  his  works  :  to  them  that  by 
patience  in  well-doing  seek  for  glory  and 
honor  and  incorruption,  eternal  life'' 
And  so  immortality  and  eternal  life  are  to 
be  sought  for  and  put  on  at  a  definite  fu- 
ture time;    namely,  the  resurrectiou. 

Jesus  said:  "I  am  the  living  bread  that 
came  down  from  heaven  :  if  any  man  eat 
of  this  bread,  he  shall  live  forever"  (John 
6:51).  Is  it  reasonable  to  believe  they 
will  live  forever  if  they  do  not  eat  that 
bread?  We  say,  no!  In  i  John  5:  12,  we 
read  again  :    "  He  that  hath  the   Son   hath 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  III 

the  life;  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of 
God  hath  not  life."  And  so  it  is  evident 
that  eternal  life  is  obtained  through  faith 
in  Christ;  it  is  therefore  not  inherent,  and 
the  wicked  have  not  got  it,  because  they 
have  not  complied  with  the  conditions. 
"And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment  (not  punishing):  but  the 
righteous  into  eternal  life"  (Matt.  25: 
46). 

Jesus  said  :  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life."  And  again  :  "  There  is  no 
man  that  hath  left  house,  or  wife,  or  breth- 
ren, or  parents,  or  children,  for  the  king- 
dom of  God's  sake,  who  shall  not  receive 
manifold  more  in  this  time,  and  in  the 
world  to  come  eternal  life"  (Luke  18: 
29,  30).  Still  again:  "My  sheep  hear 
my  voice,  and  I  know  them,  and  they 
follow  me;  and  I  give  unto  them  eter- 
nal life  ;  and  they  shall  never  perish,  and 
no  one  shall  snatch  them  out  of  my 
hand"  (John  10:  27,  28).  And  so  we 
see  that  eternal  life  is  not  inherent,  but 
conditional.  It  is  the  gift  of  God  through 
his  Son  to  all  that  believe  in   him,  and   so 


112  LIFE    AM)    AlA'ENTUKES    OF 

if  we  want  or  expect  this  blessed  boon  we 
must  accept  the  great  Life-giver,  the  only 
name  that  has  ever  been  given  whereby 
we  might  be  saved.  And  so  we  read : 
"The  wages  of  sin  is  death;  but  the  free 
gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord"  (Rom.  6:  23).  That  is,  this 
life  is  in  him  and  must  be  obtained  through 
faith  in  him,  and  obedience  to  his  com- 
mands ;  and  if  wicked  men  and  women 
will  not  submit  to  him  they  must  take  the 
inevitable,  which  is  eternal  death  or  end 
of  the  wicked.  "  For,  behold,  the  day 
cometh,  that  shall  burn  as  an  oven  ;  and 
all  the  proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do  wick- 
edly, shall  be  stubble :  and  the  day  that 
conieth  shall  burn  them  up,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  that  it  shall  leave  them 
neither  root  nor  branch  "  ( Mai.  4 :   i ) . 

What  is  Eternal  Death? 

Surely,  not  eternally  dying  and  never 
dead,  for  that  would  be  eternal  life;  but 
eternally  dead,  the  exact  opposite  of  eter- 
nal life.  The  idea  that  somewhere  in 
God's    great    universe    wicked    men     and 


ELD.  H.  S.  STURDEVANT   ..113 

devils  will  boil  and  howl  throughout  the 
endless  ages  of  eternity,  ever  dying  and 
never  dead,  is  not  a  Bible  doctrine;  it  is 
repugnant  to  men,  and  a  libel  on  the  char- 
acter of  a  just  and  loving  God,  and  is  not 
Orthodox  Adventism,  because  not  true. 

The  wicked  are  never  compared  to  any- 
thing that  will  endure,  but  always  to  the 
perishable,  like  chaff,  tares,  the  fat  of 
lambs,  ashes,  smoke  and  stubble.  And 
so  we  read :  "  The  wicked  shall  perish, 
and  the  enemies  of  Jehovah  shall  be  as 
the  fat  of  lambs :  they  shall  consume ; 
into  smoke  shall  they  consume  away " 
( Psa.  37:  20).  "As  therefore  the  tares 
are  gathered  up  and  burned  with  fire  ;  so 
shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  this  world.  The 
Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels, 
and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom 
all  things  that  cause  stumbling,  and  them 
that  do  iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into 
a  furnace  of  fire:  there  shall  be  the  weep- 
ing and  the  gnashing  of  teeth  "  (Matt.  13  : 
40-42).  "But  for  the  fearful,  and  unbe- 
lieving, and  abominable,  and  murderers, 
and  fornicators,  and   sorcerers,  and   idola- 


114     -   LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

ters,  and  all  liars,  their  part  shall  be  in  the 
lake  that  burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone  ; 
which  is  the  second   death"  (Rev.  21  :  8). 

Salvation,  or  What    Must   I  Do   to    be    Saved  ? 
Acts  16  :  30. 

This  text  as  been  quoted  by  millions, 
many  of  whom  did  not  even  know  it  was 
in  the  Bible.  But  when  God's  Spirit  gets 
hold  of  a  man  and  shows  him  his  lost 
condition,  when  sin  is  revealed  in  all  its 
blackness,  when  a  man  sees  himself  lost, 
and  the  awful  doom  of  the  unsaved  staring 
him  in  the  face,  this  is  his  first  cry :  "  What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  In  answering 
tliis  question  many  have  used  strange  and 
unscriptural  methods,  such  as  self-inflicted 
torture,  starvation,  tedious  and  long  jour- 
neys, bowing  to  idols,  and  many  other 
ways. 

Even  among  Christians  the  most  con- 
troverted views  prevail.  Some  tell  you 
one  thing  and  some  another.  I  once 
heard  a  minister  in  high  authority  advise 
the  unsaved  of  his  hearers  to  come  to  the 
anxious  seat  and  stay  there,  mourn,  weep, 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  II5 

and  pray  until  they  got  salvation  ;  even 
if  it  took  days  to  do  it,  stay  till  they  got  it. 
Another  great  evangelist  had  cards  passed 
through  the  congregation  and  those  that 
desired  salvation  were  to  sign  the  card. 
These  and  many  other  devices  are  used  in 
these  last  days  to  get  men  saved,  but  are 
they  saved  ? 

Thousands  of  people  are  duped  into 
compliance  with  these  means,  and  their 
names  go  on  the  church  book,  who  have 
never  done  one  single  thing  that  Christ 
and  his  apostles  said  men  must  do  to  be 
saved.  And  much  of  this  work  is  simply 
heaping  up  fuel  for  the  last  great  confla- 
gration. Would  God  send  his  Son  into 
the  world  to  suffer  and  die  that  men  might 
be  saved  and  then  hedge  up  the  way  so  it 
could  not  be  found?  We  say,  no,  a  thou- 
sand times,  no.  It  is  made  so  plain  that  the 
wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  may  not  err. 
A  child  ten  years  old  can  understand,  and 
will  often  willingly  obey  if  they  are  allowed 
to,  but  in  many  cases  even  in  our  short 
experience  some  timid  and  often  uncon- 
verted   mother,   or  sometimes  a    drunken 


Il6         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

father  or  husband,  has  thrown  a  barrier  in 
the  way  that  has  doomed  their  child  or 
wife  to  perdition.  And  my  heart  has  been 
made  sorry  more  than  once  over  these 
things,  when  the  patient  one  begged  for 
the  privilege  to  obey  the  blessed  mandate, 
but  was  refused  by  Iheir  liege  lord,  who 
was  tied  to  a  whiskey  bottle,  or  else  some 
timid  mother  was  afraid  that  Jesus  was  not 
able  to  take  care  of  his  own.  What  right 
has  a  worldling  to  interfere  in  the  matter 
of  serving  the  Lord?  We  say,  none  what- 
ever. 

What,  then,  is  necessary  in  order  to  be 
saved?  What  must  I  do?  Jesus  said: 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  whole  creation.  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  sJiall  be  saved!' 
We  are  sometimes  told  by  professed  Chris- 
tians that  this  is  nonessential.  Was  Christ 
talking  about  nonessentials  when  he  com- 
missioned his  disciples  to  preach  the 
gospel  that  saves  men?  We  think  not. 
Stay  at  the  anxious  seat  until  you  get  the 
feeling,  says  one;  but  we  prefer  to  obey 
the    Lord   and   get    the    feeling    that   way 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  II7 

—  the  assurance  that  we  have  obey^ed  the 
Lord.  What  was  it  that  cured  Naaman 
of  leprosy?  Simple  obedience.  What 
was  it  that  sent  the  eunuch  on  his  way  re- 
joicing? Simple  faith  and  obedience. 
"  And  they  said,  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  thou  and 
thy  house.  And  they  spoke  the  words  of 
the  Lord  unto  him,  with  all  that  were  in 
his  house.  And  he  took  them  the  same 
hour  of  the  night,  and  washed  their  stripes  ; 
and  was  baptized,  he  and  all  his,  immedi- 
ately. And  he  brought  them  up  into  his 
house,  and  set  food  before  them,  and  ;r- 
joiced  greatly,  with  all  his  house,  having 
believed  in  God"  (Acts  16:  31-34). 

And  so  it  seems  that  we  can  get  happy 
by  obeying  the  gospel,  or  doing  the  things 
Jesus  commanded.  John  says:  "Blessed 
are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that 
they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life, 
and  may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into 
the  city  "  (Rev.  22  :  14).  Oh,  how  it  lifts 
us  up  and  cheers  our  hearts  in  this  world 
of  wickedness  to  know  we  have  done  the 
things  our  Lord  commanded  and  have  a 


Il8         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

right  to    sit    down   with   Abraham,   Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

These  things  are  ahnost  too  grand  for 
human  conception,  and  still  we  know  they 
are  true,  because  we  find  them  in  the 
blessed  Book  of  God,  the  only  guide  to 
eternal  life  ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  corrobo- 
rates the  Word.  It  is  just  a  little  while, 
till  he  that  shall  come  will  come,  and  will 
not  tarry  (Heb.  lo:  37).  How  plain  and 
simple  the  plan  of  salvation,  and  yet  many 
try  to  make  it  so  hard  ;  even  many  profess- 
ors go  with  a  sad  countenance,  as  though 
the  Christian  life  was  a  hard  one;  but  if 
any  people  should  be  happy  it  is  God's 
people.  We  can  have  all  that  is  good  for 
much  in  this  world  and  eternal  life  and 
joy  in  the  world  to  come.  But  if  we  are 
to  have  eternal  life,  we  must  have  some 
place  to  live.      Where  will  it  be  ? 

The  Home  of  the  Saints. 

We  often   hear   people,  with   more  zeal 

than  knowledge,  tell  of  the  great  beyond 

and  sing  "  Beautiful  Isle  of  Somewhere," 

but  their  theories  do   not  correspond  with 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  II9 

the  Word.  I  am  thankful  we  are  not  left 
in  the  dark  as  to  our  future  home,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  on  an  island,  either  ;  it  will  be  on 
the  viaitiland.  God  was  looking  out  for 
us  way  back  yonder,  when  he  called  father 
Abram  to  go  out  and  look  at  the  land  he 
should  afterward  receive  for  an  inheritance 
(Gen.  13  :  14,  17).  In  Rom.  4:  13,  Paul 
tells  us  how  much  land  was  embraced  in 
this  promise,  and  in  Gal.  3:  16,  we  find 
that  Christ  was  the  promised  seed,  and  in 
the  27th  verse,  that  "as  many  of  you  as 
have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put 
on  Christ.  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek, 
there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is 
neither  male  nor  female ;  for  ye  are  all 
•one  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  if  ye  be  Christ's, 
then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs 
according  to  the  promise."  Heirs  of  what? 
The  whole  world  that  was  promised  to 
Abraham,  and  is  to  be  given  to  us  who 
are  in  Christ.  Also  heirs  of  immortality 
and  eternal  life  in  him  ;  heirs  of  a  kingdom, 
because  Christ  was  born  to  be  a  King 
<Isa.  9:  e^T,   Luke  i  :  33). 

The  earth  is  now  held   by  usurpers,  but 


120         LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

Satan  and  his  emissaries  have  got  to  move 
out  when  Jesus  Christ,  the  rightful  heir, 
comes.  God  has  said:  "And  thou,  O 
tower  of  the  flock,  the  strong  hold  of  the 
daughter  of  Zion,  unto  thee  shall  it  come, 
even  the  first  dominion :  the  kingdom 
shall  come  to  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem  " 
(Micah  4:  8).  What  was  the  first  do- 
minion? The  one  given  to  Adam,  and 
which  he  lost  by  transgression,  and  brought 
the  curse  upon  the  earth  (Gen.  3  :  17-19). 
But  the  curse  is  to  be  removed,  as  we  read 
in  Isa.  35,  Rev.  22,  and  elsewhere,  and  all 
that  we  lost  in  Adam  we  gain  in  Christ  — 
land  and  all.  And  more  than  that,  we 
will  have  eternal  life,  which  Adam  never 
had.      (See  Gen.  3:  22-24.) 

Yes,  it  is  land  and  life  all  through  the 
Word,  and  not  sky  once.  Jesus  said : 
"  The  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth"  (Matt. 
5:5;  Psa.  37  :  9,  1 1,  18,29).  *'  Wait  on  the 
Lord,  and  keep  his  way,  and  he  shall  exalt 
thee  to  inherit  the  land  :  when  the  wicked 
are  cut  off,  thou  shalt  see  it  "  (Psa.  37  :  34). 
"  Behold,  the  righteous  shall  be  recom- 
pensed in  the  earth  "  ( Prov.  11:31).     And 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDLVANT  121 

when?  "  At  the  resurrection  of  the  just" 
(Luke  14:  14).  David  said  :  "  I  shall  be 
satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness" 
(Psa.  17:  15).  It  will  be  truly  satisfying 
to  see  Jesus  and  be  made  like  him. 

And  this  is  Orthodox  Advcntism,  as 
taught  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  will  stand 
when  the  heavens  are  on  fire.  This  is  our 
hope:  Jesus  and  the  resurrection,  eternal 
life  and  land  through  him,  when  he  comes 
the  second  time  "without  sin  (or  a  sin- 
ofTering)  unto  salvation." 

How  May  we  Know  His  Coming  is  Near? 

"And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shalT 
be  preached  in  the  whole  world  for  a  tes- 
timony unto  all  the  nations  ;  and  tlien  shall 
the  end  come  "  (Matt.  24:  14).  If  there 
is  a  nation  under  heaven  that  has  not  heard 
the  gospel  preached  in  some  part  of  it,  we 
do  not  know  of  that  nation.  Jesus  did 
not  say  each  individual  must  hear  it,  and 
when  they  say,  "  Lo,  here  is  Christ,  or 
there  ;  believe  it  not."  "  For  as  the  light- 
ning Cometh  forth  from  the  east,  and  is 
seen   even   unto   the  west;    so  shall  be  the 


122         LIFE    AND    ADVENTURES    OF 
coming  of   the  Son  of  man"    (Matt.    24: 

2-]). 

"  Evil  men  and  seducers  shall  wax 
worse  and  worse  "  (2  Tim.  3  :  13).  Crime 
is  terribly  on  the  increase.  No  one  of 
ordinary  observation  can  fail  to  see  this, 
and  men  are  becoming  criminal  beyond  a 
precedent.  A  half  dozen  murders  in  a  day 
in  this  country  produce  no  unusual  com- 
ment In  our  large  cities  ladies  are  fre- 
quently assaulted  on  the  street  in  broad 
daylight,  and  dragged  into  dens  of  vice. 
Innocent  girls  are  kidnapped  and  taken  to 
foreign  countries  and  sold  to  the  heathen 
for  slaves,  and  these  things  are  winked  at 
even  by  those  in  authority.  The  tourist  and 
standard  sleepers  on  our  railroads  are  little 
less  than  houses  of  infamy.  And  what 
does  it  all  mean?  Simply  that  we  are  at 
the  end  of  this  age,  and  that  the  God  of 
heaven  will  soon  call  a  halt,  and  nothing 
but  the  fires  of  the  judgment  will  remove 
the  awful  stench. 

But  we  read  :  "As  were  the  days  of  Noah, 
so  shall  be  the  days  of  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of   man."      Busy  eating  and  drinking 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  123 

And  how  is  it  to-day?  In  the  church  and 
out  is  almost  one  continual  feast.  "And 
they  knew  not  until  the  flood  came,  and 
took  them  all  away  ;  so  shall  be  the  com- 
ing of  the  Son  of  man"  (Matt.  24:  39). 
"  When  once  the  master  of  the  house  is 
risen  up,  and  hath  shut  to  the  door,  and 
ye  begin  to  stand  without,  and  to  knock  at 
the  door,  saying.  Lord,  open  to  us;  and 
he  shall  answer  and  say  to  you,  I  know 
you  not  whence  ye  are ;  then  shall  ye  be- 
gin to  say.  We  did  eat  and  drink  in  thy 
presence,  and  thou  didst  teach  in  our 
streets;  and  he  shall  say,  I  tell  you,  I 
know  not  whence  ye  are;  depart  from  me, 
all  ye  workers  of  iniquity  "  (Luke  13:  25- 
27). 

A  certain  editor  said  Adventists  teach 
that  when  the  Lord  comes  probation  for 
sinners  will  end.  Which  is  true.  And 
the  reason  we  teach  it  is  because  it  is 
plainly  taught  in  the  Bible.  If  he  or  any- 
one else  waits  to  seek  the  Lord  until  he 
comes,  they  will  find  the  door  shut.  They 
may  knock,  but  it  will  all  be  in  vain. 
Peter  said:  "That  there  shall  come  in  the 


124  1-IfE    AND    ADVENTURES    uV 

last  days  scoffers,  walking  after  their  own 
lusts,  and  saying,  Where  is  the  promise  of 
his  coming?  for  since  the  fathers  fell 
asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation"  (2 
Peter  3:  4).  Have  you  met  any  such 
scoffers?  If  so,  then  we  are  in  the  last 
days.  I  heard  the  president  of  a  theolog- 
ical institution  say  to  a  large  congrega- 
tion that  if  Jesus  Christ  ever  came  back- 
he  would  not  come  in  ten  thousand  years  ; 
no,  nor  fifty  thousand  years;  no,  not  in  a 
hundred  thousand  years.  I  thought  he 
was  almost  a  time-setter. 

But  we  read :  "  But  and  if  that  evil 
servant  shall  say  in  his  heart.  My  Lord 
delayeth  his  coming;  and  shall  begin  to 
smite  his  fellow  servants,  and  to  eat  and 
drink  with  the  drunken;  the  lord  of  that 
servant  shall  come  in  a  day  when  he 
looketh  not  for  him,  and  in  an  hour  that 
he  is  not  aware  of,  and  shall  cut  him 
asunder,  and  appoint  him  his  portion 
with  the  hypocrites"  (Matt.  24:  48-51). 
"  Watch  therefore ;  for  ye  know  neither 
the   day  nor  the   hour  wherein  tJie   Son  of 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  125 

man  cometh "  (Matt.  25:  13).  Daniel 
was  told  to  "  shut  up  the  words,  and  seal 
the  book,  even  to  the  time  of  the  end : 
many  shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowl- 
edge shall  be  increased"  (Daniel  12:  4). 
These  things  were  to  occur  at  the  time  of 
the  end. 

And  do  we  see  knowledge  increased? 
This  is  the  most  wonderful  age  that  man 
ever  saw.  The  last  fifty  years  has  been  a 
perfect  stream  of  invention.  Things  that 
our  fathers  never  dreamed  of  are  now 
common  toys,  and  men  are  "  lovers  of 
pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God." 

Is  there  any  running  to  and  fro?  Go 
to  our  cities  and  see  the  motley  crowd  go- 
ing in  every  direction.  At  the  opening 
game  of  baseball  in  a  small  city,  a  short 
time  ago,  there  were  fifteen  thousand  spec- 
tators. Our  railroad  trains  are  packed, 
the  street  cars  are  full,  running  to  and  fro. 
How  did  the  prophet  Daniel  know  about 
what  would  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days? 
Peter  says:  "The  prophecy  came  not  in 
old  time  by  the  will  of  man ;  but  holy 
men   of  God   spake   as   they   were    moved 


126         LIFE   AND    ADVENTURES    OF 

by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  so  God,  who  sees 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  dictated  this 
message  to  show  us  when  we  were  nearing 
the  end  of  time:  "Be  patient,  therefore, 
brethren,  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 
Behold,  the  husbandman  waiteth  for  the 
precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  and  hath  long 
patience  for  it,  until  he  receive  the  early 
and  latter  rain.  Be  ye  also  patient;  stab- 
lish  your  hearts:  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  draweth  nigh"  (James  5  :  7,8).  To 
ridicule  the  Bible  truth  of  the  soon-com- 
ing of  Christ  is  not  going  to  postpone  the 
event.  It  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  and 
while  many  professed  Christians  scofT  and 
laugh  at  the  idea,  we  sometimes  hear  it 
said,  that  those  laugh  best  that  laugh  last, 
and  so  we  take  courage. 

Let  scoffers  sneer  ;  their  time  is  short ; 

Their  prophecy  will  fail  ; 
Our  absent  Lord  will  soon  return. 

And  then  they''ll  weep  and  wail. 

The  "  stone"  will  smite  the  "  image  ;  " 
The  "  gold  "  will  melt  away  ; 

The  "  brass  "  and  "  silver '"  also. 
With  the  "  iron  "  and  the  "  clay." 


ELD.    H.    S.    STURDEVANT  12/ 

The  earth  is  our  possession, 

Through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  ; 

We  find  the  deed  recorded 
On  the  pages  of  his  Word. 

Oh,  sinner,  heed  the  warning; 

God's  mercy  now  implore  ; 
The  signs  in  earth  are  telling 

The  Saviour's  at  the  door. 

Oh,  hasten  glad,  bright  morning! 

When  earth  has  met  its  doom  ; 
With  paradise  restored  again. 

The  tree  of  Life  will  bloom. 

Then  with  the  ransomed  millions, 
We'll  hail  our  Lord  and  King ; 

And  with  the  dead  reliving. 
The  song  of  triumph  sing. 

God  grant  that  all  our  readers 

May  heed  the  warnings  true, 
And  make  the  preparation 

For  heaven  and  earth  made  new. 


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